Vancouver-based Expeto has secured $12 million USD in Series B funding to make enterprise mobile networks “as easy to deploy and manage as enterprise Wi-Fi.”
The startup, which helps large enterprises extend private networks across virtually any type of cellular connectivity, plans to invest this capital in product development and expand its go-to-market programs.
“Expeto was first to market with public and private networking on a single SIM and we see them with a considerable lead in this market.”
-Burke Davis, Sorenson Capital
Expeto’s all-primary Series B round closed in September, and consisted of $12 million in equity funding. The financing was led by Utah’s Sorenson Capital, with participation from fellow new investors 5G Open Innovation Lab out of Seattle and Samsung Next, Samsung’s venture arm.
The round was also supported by a trio of existing Expeto backers in Vancouver’s Evok Innovations, Virginia-based Lavrock Ventures, and Ottawa’s Mistral Venture Partners. This capital brings Expeto’s total funding to over $25 million, a figure that includes an additional $5 million in debt from an undisclosed source.
Major vendors and other startups alike also provide private cellular network services, from AT&T and T-Mobile to emerging players like Celona, Anterix, and Airspan Networks. But as Sorenson Capital partner Burke Davis claims, “Expeto was first to market with public and private networking on a single SIM and we see them with a considerable lead in this market.” Davis has joined Expeto’s board as part of the round.
According to Expeto, end-to-end private wireless network solutions targeting enterprise firms tend to be limited by connectivity type, wireless spectrum, or geographic area. This forces company information technology (IT) teams to manage them separately, and use mobile network operators (MNOs) to request changes that can take weeks to be addressed.
Expeto claims to address these issues by allowing enterprises to seamlessly extend private networks across various types of cellular connectivity, from CBRS, to LTE and 5G—giving those IT teams one network to manage, and the capability to do so in real-time through its portal.
“Expeto hides the complexity of mobile network management behind an easy interface and powerful routing platform that has been proven to help achieve ambitious mobile connectivity management goals in large-scale commercial deployments,” said Expeto CEO Michael Anderson.
Based in Vancouver, Expeto has a US headquarters in Portland, Oregon, and research and development hubs in San Francisco and Luxembourg. The company was founded in 2015 by CTO Terje Strand, CSO Ryley MacKenzie, and Brian Baird. Anderson came onboard as Expeto’s CEO in 2019.
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Expeto’s go-to-market strategy is two-pronged: the company serves MNOs (or telecom service providers) and network vendor partners. It also caters directly to “large, multi-site, mission-critical businesses” in industries that include utilities, mining, connected vehicles, agriculture, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing.
Rogers for Business in Canada uses Expeto’s platform as part of its business class private wireless network connectivity service.
“We’ve seen pandemic-driven demand for our approach to enterprise mobile networking,” Anderson told BetaKit. “These large companies want to power next-gen use cases like automation, remote operations and insights—all initiatives tied to advancements in operational efficiencies and growth initiatives.”
Mistral Venture Partners was initially attracted to Expeto because of its ability to “elegantly address” telecommunication and enterprise requirements in a single solution, which managing director Code Cubitt noted could help telecom firms “move beyond one-off deployments.”
“We are doubling down on our initial investment following the company’s continued traction and momentum in this burgeoning market and are proud to be working with the Expeto team and play a role in its ongoing success,” said Cubitt.
UPDATE (12/06/22): This story was updated to include responses from Expeto CEO Michael Anderson.
Feature image courtesy Expeto.