Aterlo Networks, a company dedicated to building technology for bandwidth or broadband usage-limited homes to enjoy high-quality streaming video, has closed $1 million in funding led by the MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund.
The MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund provides early-stage investment to Ontario-based companies with terms meant to attract future investors, and invests up to $500,000 in privately-held companies with no significant revenue or institutional investment. BDC Capital and Sandvine, which recently received $15 million from the provincial government, also invested in the round.
Aterlo will use the funding to expand features of its NightShift product, which pre-loads video during off-peak hours so content is stored closer to the subscriber. The company said these times often coincide with free zones offered by ISPs, so all of the downloading is done without impacting the subscriber’s datacap.
“Internet subscribers not being able to stream high definition video is a much bigger problem than most people realize,” said Gerrit Nagelhout, CEO of Aterlo Networks. “Their bandwidth is almost high enough to stream it, but it just misses the mark. Streaming just an hour of HD video a day uses 3GB, so many households very quickly collide with their data caps. With 4K video content coming and the desire for several video active video streams, the problem will only get worse.”
The company will also use the funding to hire local talent and expand its marketing team.