Celeno Communications, an Israel-based provider of wireless video services, has raised $12m from a consortium including Nasdaq-listed cable company Liberty Global as a new investor.
In September, Liberty Global said it would use Celeno’s technology. Bruce Dines, vice president of technology investing at Liberty Global Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the cable company, said: "We invested in Celeno because [its] carrier-grade Wi-Fi technology is a cornerstone for delivering video throughout the home and it will be a key component in our multimedia home gateways."
He added by email: "Ideally, we like to invest in technologies/solutions that we can leverage through our capex [capital expenditure] spend or distribution network. However, we also come across interesting technologies that are potentially disruptive, or simply aligned with our own strategic goals. We will take investment positions in these as well, if they meet our other investment criteria (stage, size, etc.). I would not say that we are doing more at the moment. We typically do three to six investments per year."
Cisco Systems, a computer server company, and venture capital firms Greylock Partners, Miven Venture Partners and Pitango Venture Capital also participated in the round as repeat investors.
In November 2008, Victor Tsao, senior vice president emeritus of Cisco after the company’s acquisition of his start-up Linksys in 2003, joined Celeno’s board following an investment of by the server company.
Cisco led the $16m round for Celeno in July that year to take its total funding since launch in 2005 to more than $30m.