Kirkland communications tech company Pivotal Commware has raised $14.7 million in an ongoing Series B round. The company is ultimately chasing a cool $20 million, according to documents filed with the SEC yesterday.
Pivotal Commware Chief Operating Officer Chris Brandon confirmed the funding in an interview with Built In Seattle, saying the company decided to raise more cash after receiving interest from potential strategic investors.
“We had some strategics who were engaged with us at a commercial level, and they expressed strong interest in potentially investing,” Brandon said. “We’re cautiously progressing through each stage in the process, and that’s why there’s not a hard close — it’s more of an extended round.”
Brandon didn’t reveal the identity of those potential strategic investors, but said he expects the round to wrap up later in the fall.
Pivotal Commware creates software-defined antennas that leverage its “Holographic Beam Forming” technology to help network operators focus and steer radio energy. This way, network operators can maximize spectrum efficiency, capacity and throughput to make 5G a reality.
“We offer 5G beamforming technology using the lowest combination of cost, size, weight and power,” Brandon said.
We’re looking for folks who have a collaborative, group-oriented kind of mindset and are looking for the opportunity to create wealth through an equity position in the company.”
Brandon said the majority of Pivotal Commware’s existing investors will participate in this round. Those current investors include names DIG Investment, Lux Capital, Starwood Capital Group and Bill Gates.
Brandon said Pivotal Commware plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate their product development.
“We have several very large potential account opportunities in front of us for 2019, so we’re going to be augmenting our staff in R&D,” he said. “It’s a nice position to be in when your very large prospective customers are anxiously awaiting the next turn of your product, so we don’t want to disappoint them and we don’t want to miss this market opportunity.”
Brandon didn’t disclose how many people the company currently employs, but they are currently hiring engineers.
“We’re looking for folks who are hoping to make a difference in a small and mid-sized company, who have a collaborative group-oriented kind of mindset and are looking for the opportunity to create wealth through an equity position in the company,” Brandon said.
