A new startup is joining the broadband industry – Mimosa Networks is coming out of stealth mode after raising a new $20 million funding round and is already working with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on ways to make more spectrum available for backhaul.
Mimosa Networks provides last mile gigabit wireless technology, and is backed by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Oak Investment Partners also returned for its third round of investment in Mimosa, bringing the company’s total financing to $38 million. The company says it will use the additional capital to expand its cutting-edge wireless product line, and significantly ramp global sales growth.
Mimosa employs advanced Wi-Fi technology to design and manufacture gigabit wireless platforms for Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Mimosa’s product offering, which will be launched later this year, hopes to disrupt the industry through increases in capacity, speed and reliability for networks.
The company has already asked the FCC to open up the 10.0-10.5 GHz band for lightly licensed broadband services. Current users of that spectrum include ham radio operators as well as federal and non-federal radiolocation services. The move would free up more unlicensed 5 GHz band for non-line-of-sight services, something which Google has also advocated in its gigabit broadband effort.
If successful, Mimosa could be a welcome addition to the nearly competition free broadband industry. The company is based in Campbell, California and currently has partnerships with Airspan and Quantenna Communications.