Italy-based wireless broadband service provider Linkem secured €100m ($106m) yesterday in a round that included diversified holding group and existing investor Leucadia National Corporation.
Financial services firm Cowen Group also participated in the round alongside funds managed by asset manager BlackRock on behalf of its clients, and additional existing backers.
Founded in 2001, Linkem provides an ultrabroadband fixed wireless network service to more than 400,000 subscribers across Italy, with coverage that spans roughly 60% of the country’s population.
Davide Rota, Linkem’s CEO, said: “This financing round provides all the equity capital needed to achieve our near-term goals to cover 80% of Italian households and deliver ultrabroadband services to millions of subscribers, validating Linkem’s objective of providing simple, affordable, high-speed internet access across Italy.”
The round increased Linkem’s overall equity funding to more than €500m in funding, it said in a statement. Leucadia and Cowen invested $60m in the company in 2011, and Leucadia owned 56% of the company as of the end of 2015, according to the firm’s annual report.