Network Software Maker Mavenir Raises $100M To Add More AI Capabilities

After raising $250 million last year, network software provider Mavenir locked up another large tranche of money, closing a $100 million round led by Siris.

The Richardson, Texas-based company builds cloud-native software that allows enterprises and service providers to manage complex networks without relying on older telecom hardware  like routers and switches. This allows customers to scale operations more quickly on the cloud and without the expense of equipment.

Mavenir expects to use the new capital for — what else? — adding AI tools. It also plans to increase automation abilities and grow its customer base. The company already works with more than 250 service providers in over 120 countries.

“This new capital will allow us to accelerate our capabilities in automation, sustainability, and use of AI as we enable our customers to efficiently deploy and operate Open RAN based end-to-end cloud-native networks,” said president and CEO Pardeep Kohli in a release.

Big money

Aside from Siris — the company’s largest equity holder — the new round also included investment from “two highly strategic ecosystem partners,” according to Mavenir.

Mavenir has been busy on the capital front in recent years. In 2022 the company raised $95 million in debt in the summer and then a big $155 million tranche led by Siris and Koch Strategic Platforms in October.

Before those deals, in April of 2021, Koch placed a huge bet on Mavenir, investing $500 million in the company.

Mavenir has used some of its cash to be acquisitive in the past, making a total of eight deals since 2011, per Crunchbase data. However, it has only made two deals since 2020, buying Austin, Texas-based open-source communications platform Telestax in 2021 and U.K.-based cell solution developer ip.access in 2020.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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