AccelerComm secures $7.5m Series A funding from IQ Capital, Bloc Ventures and IP Group

University of Southampton spinout to use funding to scale IP technology business that significantly reduces latency and increases spectral efficiency

Southampton, 21st September 2020 -- AccelerComm - The Southampton University spinout supercharging 5G, satellite and other wireless communications with IP which increases spectrum efficiency and reduces latency - has raised £5.8m in Series A funding in a round led by IQ Capital alongside existing investors Bloc Ventures and the IP Group. The funding will be used to expand the current team, drive US and global expansion, and develop the technology further as demand for the company’s cutting-edge digital signal processing IP grows among mobile operators, telecoms equipment vendors, satellite operators and connected device manufacturers.

"Bloc are delighted to be partnering with Max and the IQ Capital team on taking AccelerComm to the next level of scale. We believe we have the makings of something very special in AccelerComm, something we have not seen in the UK since the early days of ARM”. David Leftley, CTO and co-founder of Bloc Ventures

Low latency and high spectrum efficiency are crucial in protecting cellular and other radio networks from insufficient capacity, low data rates, sparse coverage and poor quality-of-service. Despite the roll-out of early 5G networks these factors remain an issue that risk stifling new revenue opportunities for operators from services such as gaming or VR, industrial IoT, autonomous vehicles or drone control.

AccelerComm’s cutting-edge channel coding IP is used to correct transmission errors in mobile, small cell and satellite communications caused by noise, interference and poor signal strength. This technology is optimized for the specific needs of cellular and satellite communications to provide market leading performance and efficiency. The product suite includes a complete channel coding IP solution that delivers reduced latency and power consumption for the most critical component of a 5G system, whilst meeting all the throughput and error correction targets. The AccelerComm IP packages can be quickly integrated and flexibly delivered for use in custom silicon (ASIC), programmable hardware (FPGA) or as software solutions, covering all use cases within the current standards.

Founded by Professor Rob Maunder at the University of Southampton in 2016, AccelerComm has established itself as a leader in the field of channel coding, also known as forward error correction, and is already working with Intel, Xilinx and National Instruments. Driven by a leadership team comprising executives and senior talent from ARM, Qualcomm and Ericsson, the company was recently named in the EE Times Silicon 100: Emerging Startups to Watch and continues to push the state-of-the-art in channel coding technology.

Tom Cronk, CEO of AccelerComm said: “From gaming and VR to automated robotic manufacturing lines and telemedicine, the use cases on the road to 5G appear almost limitless. But a critical roadblock remains – latency. For more than 15 years a research team led by Prof. Maunder, first at the University of Southampton and now at AccelerComm, has been working to solve the challenge to deliver on the 5G promise of a low latency, high throughput experience. We are delighted to have closed our Series A funding round, which will help us further develop and deploy our already market leading technology to help improve the efficiency of networks for many years to come.”

"The completion of this funding round marks yet another milestone in AccelerComm’s journey towards widespread commercial success. This new capital will support the company in increasing the adoption of its technology by clients across the globe and will build on the early success already achieved with several blue-chip customers." Lee Thornton, Investment Director at IP Group

Max Bautin, Managing Partner at IQ Capital commented “We are very excited that we have been able to partner with AccelerComm in this round of funding. Squeezing ever more data into limited radio spectrum at faster and faster speeds is a huge challenge facing the telecoms industry. Improving the efficiency and reliability of data transfer has become critical to many industries – not just in cellular networks and IoT but also satellites, drones, fixed wireless internet and anything else that uses radio waves. AccelerComm’s track record of selling to globally very sophisticated blue-chip customers and deep IP are very impressive. The amazing founding team combining cutting edge academic and industry knowledge with ex ARM DNA gives AccelerComm incredible growth potential.”

David Leftley, CTO and co-founder of Bloc Ventures said “Bloc are delighted to be partnering with Max and the IQ Capital team on taking AccelerComm to the next level of scale. We believe we have the makings of something very special in AccelerComm, something we have not seen in the UK since the early days of ARM”.

Lee Thornton, Investment Director at IP Group commented “As the founding investor in AccelerComm we have supported this company from its inception as a university spin-out and the completion of this funding round marks yet another milestone in AccelerComm’s journey towards widespread commercial success. This new capital will support the company in increasing the adoption of its technology by clients across the globe and will build on the early success already achieved with several blue-chip customers. We have little doubt that the AccelerComm technology will form an essential part of the next generation of wireless communication systems (including 5G networks) over the coming years and look forward to being part of that story.”

AccelerComm were advised through the funding process by Acuity Advisors, UK.