Ireland-based core network provider Druid Software has raised $20 million in venture funding to expand its private 4G/5G deployments in the defence, shipping, and utilities markets, it has said. The funding round was co-led by Boston-based J2 Ventures and Singapore-based HICO Investment Group, which claim interests in the defence and maritime-and-logistics industries, respectively. The entire investment will help Druid Software go even faster in places our group knows very well”, said J2 Ventures.
It is the first time the company has “taken… outside investor dollars,” said Druid Software. Alexander Harstrick, managing partner at J2 Ventures, commented: “We’ve been looking at this space for years and there is really no non-publicly traded business that comes close to Druid’s performance, reach and efficiency – entities we thought were competitors turned out to actually be customers. When we found Druid, we shifted our focus to convincing the company to take our money because they are already profitable and growing very fast.
Druid Software, founded in 2000 in County Wicklow in Ireland, is profitable and growing, the company said. It has been teeing-up enterprise 4G/5G communications since the very start of the new wave of private network infrastructure, which has crested with the liberalisation of spectrum for enterprise usage in international markets. Along with the likes of Nokia and Athonet, notably, it has effectively opened up the market, which has since seen a whole bunch of radio (RAN) and core network providers join the fray.
The company claims “mission-critical deployments” in 35-odd countries, and new-ish offices in the US. It has a major focus in the US to deliver 4G/5G systems, in the form of its Raemis platform, to enterprises for use in shared CBRS spectrum, at 3.55-3.7 GHz. It has scored notable deals, also, outside of hard-nosed Industry 4.0 markets like manufacturing and port logistics, which have proved foundational for the private 4G/5G industry, by helping to popularise the technology in so-called ‘carpeted’ sectors like healthcare and education (versus ‘non-carpeted’ hard-floored Industry 4.0).
Druid Software explained the new popularity of its Raemis platform, and of the technology in general, in terms of parallel AI-geared “advances in handheld computing [and] IoT and connected equipment”. “Cellular technology to enable this connectivity has struggled to keep pace,” it said. “There are very few independent companies that have the expertise to provide the infrastructure for the next generation of connected devices, and many of those rely on Druid Software to power their solutions.”
It also highlighted its own proprietary ‘slicing’ technology in its Raemis platform, to “create multiple distinct network zones with varying levels of speed and bandwidth… [to] allow customers to dynamically adjust the prioritization of critical applications and communications while efficiently reducing resources for less critical services.”
Liam Kenny, founder and chief executive at Druid Software, commented: “In the last four years, we have seen a surge in demand for our products in every major infrastructure category from healthcare to connected warehouses. When we started 24 years ago, we never dreamt our core network products would be so integral, but many also did not see the AI boom either. And as people want more computing in more things, you need one to enable the other.”
There was additional investment support in the round from Arthur Patterson, co-founder of Accel Partners, who had a hand in the venture strategy, IPO, and sale (to T-Mobile) of Metro PCS, as well as UUNet’s acquisition by MFS and NextG Networks acquisition by Crown Castle. The syndicate also includes John Georges, founder and CEO of Sobey Networks, NextG Networks, and LGC wireless.
