Wooow wooow woow... hold back your breadth everybody, take a step back. What is happening here? Do you mean that after BusinessWeek and the NYtimes have started carrying stories about the future of wireless, the guys up Sand Hill road are waking up ?
Yes indeed! Please welcome them to the club of wireless and mobile fanatics !
OK, I am joking here, but the news are true.
From DowJones VentureWire Professional (ta taaa!): "Aruba Wireless Networks, saying the corporate wireless network market is ripe for the picking, has closed $27 million in a Series C round of financing and secured a $15 million credit facility"
Aruba, Aruba... wait! didn't I just mention them exactly last week here?
These guys build solutions for wireless security, including wireless firewalls, wireless intrusion detection systems, and some other geeky stuff.
These guys also have chutzpah! From the same report: "Aruba, which also said Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. have signed on as customers, signaled it is going after Cisco Systems Inc. in the wireless gear field." The sad truth is that probably John Chambers will buy them as well, unless some other competitor does it before (think Foundry, Extreme, Juniper, etc.)...
"The Series C brings total venture funding to $59 million. The round was led by WK Technology Fund, a new investor, and included previous investors Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners and Trinity Ventures. The $15 million credit facility is being supplied by Lighthouse Capital."
In another release by the DowJones Venturewire: "Airespace Inc., a developer of wireless networking equipment, has raised $20 million in what it says will be the last round [Series D] before profitability and, potentially, an initial public offering.
The company's venture funding is now $58 million.
Norwest Venture Partners led the inside round, a Series D, and was joined by all other existing institutional investors: Battery Ventures, Fidelity Ventures, Storm Ventures, Hotung Capital and KTB Ventures"
Did I mention Airespace in my post about INSEAD? yes!!! These guys provide both hardware and software secure wireless solutions.
Hey, sorry for making fun of my VCs friends. They are on the right track. Remember about serendipity.
Oh, by the way, John Doerr is getting rich again. Google announced its IPO price range today.
