Investment comes with participation from Spectrum Bridge's existing investors including: True Ventures, Telecommunications Development Fund (TDF) and Espirito Santo Ventures.
LAKE MARY, FL, Spectrum Bridge, Inc., a company whose software solutions are leading the way in improving availability, allocation and access to wireless spectrum, announced today $8.8 million in Series B funding for domestic and international commercialization and development efforts.
The investment comes with participation from Spectrum Bridge's existing investors including: True Ventures, Telecommunications Development Fund (TDF) and EspĂ-rito Santo Ventures. The funding provides the capital to help commercialize Spectrum Bridge's award winning software solutions and services as the company is poised to take advantage of the burgeoning global TV white spaces market.
"Spectrum scarcity is a global challenge, and Spectrum Bridge has made enormous strides in establishing themselves as the leading authority in licensed and unlicensed spectrum optimization, from wireless networking to spectrum management solutions, including TV White Spaces," said John Burke, a co-founder of True Ventures. "Spectrum Bridge continues to be at the forefront of this exploding market and we are incredibly excited to be part of this innovative team as they continue to change the way the world's rapidly increasing number of connected devices communicate with each other."
In addition, the company has announced the appointment of Rod Dir as President and CEO. Prior to Spectrum Bridge, Dir served as the COO of mobile commerce platform provider Firethorn LLC, which was subsequently acquired by Qualcomm. He also previously served as COO of Cincinnati Bell, with responsibility for convergence of all their communication businesses, and as COO of Powertel where he lead the growth and expansion of the company's GSM wireless operations up to its acquisition by T-Mobile.
"This is as an excellent opportunity to leverage Spectrum Bridge's innovation and technology to bring relevant solutions to market," said Dir. "The increasing consumer demand for wireless bandwidth and the inefficient use of spectrum today creates an immediate opportunity for the company. Our focus will be on leveraging our leadership position, knowledge and experience in spectrum management solutions for the immediate deployment of commercial products."
Dir succeeds former CEO Richard Licursi, who will now represent the company as the Executive Chairman of the Board. Licursi will continue to play an integral role in the strategic direction of the company, while utilizing his considerable experience and connections to strengthen Spectrum Bridge's presence within the telecommunications industry.
Licursi is one of the founders of Spectrum Bridge, and was also the co-founder, President and CEO of MeshNetworks Inc., which became recognized as the global leader in mobile mesh networking technology prior to the company's acquisition by Motorola in 2004.
About Spectrum Bridge, Inc.
Spectrum Bridge, Inc. (SBI) delivers software and services to wireless service providers and equipment manufacturers. SBI enables wireless networks to access and use all types of spectrum at any place or time via a database-driven cognitive network architecture. The company's products are embedded in subscriber devices and network equipment to more efficiently allocate bandwidth throughout the entire wireless network. SBI's technology provides customers greater capacity, coverage and utilization of scarce spectrum resources. SBI was named a top innovator in the area of technology for its TV White Spaces network by the Andrew Seybold 2010 Choice Awards. The company is privately held and headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida. For more information, contact us at (866) 598-7426 or visit SpectrumBridge.com.
About True Ventures
True Ventures is the premiere early stage venture capital firm. We invest in the best people who are creating companies in proven high growth sectors of the high tech industry. Since inception in 2006, we have provided visionary Founders with a trusted, seasoned partner, and we actively facilitate a powerful community to help foster growth and innovation. For more information about True Ventures, please visit
www.trueventures.com.
About Telecommunications Development (TDF)
TDF is made up of a diverse group of investment professionals with venture capital and communications and technology backgrounds. The team brings over 60 years of experience from previous assignments at AT&T Ventures, JPMorgan Capital, NEA, Spectrum Equity, Crosspoint Ventures, AT&T, Bell Labs, Nextel, and McCaw. This combination of domain expertise and operational knowledge coupled with our dedication to working closely with management has proven to be invaluable to our portfolio companies. For more information about Telecommunications Development, please visit www.tdfund.com.
About EspĂ-rito Santo Ventures
EspĂ-rito Santo Ventures is a venture capital firm of EspĂ-rito Santo Group, focused on technology based companies and innovative business projects with high-growth potential. We have more than 200 million Euros in assets under management, invested in near 30 companies that are developing worldwide leading products and services in the areas of Clean Tech, Health Care and IT. We have a "hands-on" approach, investing with no geographic constrains, in the best-of-breed opportunities. On June 2010, our new venture capital fund "EspĂ-rito Santo Ventures III" had its second closing, with more than 75 million Euros of committed capital.
