Telstra Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for telecommunications firm Telstra, led a $43m funding round yesterday for Cumulus Networks, a US-based provider of data software for enterprises.
The round also featured all the company’s existing investors, it said in a statement, specifically identifying venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures and Sequoia Capital.
Cumulus provides networking switching software to enterprise customers that enables them to operate their data centre networks automatically, much like larger internet-focused businesses with greater resources.
The series D proceeds will go to sales and marketing, as Cumulus looks to expand its customer base in Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It has now raised $129m altogether.
Mark Sherman, managing director at Telstra Ventures, will take a board observer role at Cumuls. He said: “Telstra Ventures is focused on investing in strategic, value-added businesses that show strong market fit and growth potential.
“In this case we had the advantage of being a Cumulus Networks customer first, which gave us several months of first-hand experience working with their products, services and team.
“After that experience, we were eager to expand our partnership and invest in the company. Open networking is key to growing service provider capabilities and we are thrilled to have Cumulus join our portfolio of strategic, innovative companies.”
Cumulus emerged from stealth in 2013 with $15m from Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures and angel investors Diane Greene and Mendel Rosenblum before Sequoia led its $36m series B round the following year. Wing Venture Capital was also an early investor.
Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, Sequoia, Wing VC, SV Angel and Top Tier Capital subsequently invested $35m in the company in early 2016, at a valuation co-founder and CEO JR Rivers told VentureBeat was lower than in 2014.