Beceem Raises US$20 Million for Mobile WiMAX Chip Development

Beceem Communications, a provider of mobile WiMAX chips, says that it has closed a US$20 million financing round that is providing the company with the capital needed to scale production and customer support as demand for its industry leading WiMAX chips is increasing around the world.

Motorola, through its Home & Networks Mobility business, joined this latest round of financing, along with existing Beceem investors Global Catalyst Partners, Khosla Ventures, KTB Ventures, Walden International and previous strategic investors Intel Capital, NEC, Mitsui and Samsung.

"The Mobile WiMAX market is showing increased adoption and the time to scale for success is now," said Caroline Gabriel of Rethink Research. "Beceem has been an early WiMAX enabler and emerged as leader in the mobile space following their success at Clearwire and UQ as announced earlier this year. The additional funding should remove any concerns about Beceem's ability to focus on WiMAX or its long-term viability as a chip supplier in the space."

"The ability to raise a significant amount of money in this challenging environment is a clear vote of confidence from our strategic partners and investors," said Babu Mandava, CEO of Beceem. "The investment comes at a time when significant expansion of WiMAX deployments in regions around the world is driving a steep ramp of WiMAX device shipments. The additional capital will allow us to remain focused on executing our WiMAX product initiatives, to support our customers and strategic operator partners and to win new designs worldwide."

Posted to the site on 22nd April 2009