Qualcomm and Sierra Wireless invest a further US$5m in Cubic Telecom

29 Jul 2014

A year after raising US$5.2m from Qualcomm and a number of investors, Dublin tech firm Cubic Telecom has raised an additional US$5m from Qualcomm and Sierra Wireless.

The latest investment brings to US$15m the total amount of investment raised by the company.

Cubic, which revealed plans to create 70 new jobs last year, is now launching a new funding round to secure a further US$15m from potential investors.

The company provides over-the-air mobile connectivity solutions across networks for OEMs that include HP, Lenovo, Panasonic and others.

Cubic is a licensed mobile network operator and provides embedded mobile connectivity for OEMs, machine-to-machine (M2M) devices and retailers.

Cubic Telecom’s applications and technologies are embedded into the device at the manufacturing stage, enabling always-on connectivity anywhere in the world.

Joining up the internet of things

“The internet of things (IoT), M2M, sponsored connectivity and the era of affordable pre-paid service offerings is upon us, and Cubic Telecom provides a robust, ubiquitous, cross-border platform for device and service manufacturers to launch new innovative products,” said Peggy Johnson, executive vice-president of Qualcomm.

“The Qualcomm investment in Cubic is very much in line with our goal of developing the ecosystem necessary for these verticals to grow.”

In recent months, Cubic Telecom signed a deal with China Unicom, which boasts more than 130m subscribers, to enable M2M devices and OEM wireless connectivity on the Chinese network.

“An open platform providing connectivity across all networks, geographies and operating systems is at the top of all OEMs’ agenda,” said Cubic Telecom CEO Barry Napier.

“The Cubic Telecom platform delivers on this and has been tailored with direct input from our customers, investors and partners.

“The platform technology provides a means for our customers to establish a continuous, post-sale relationship with their customers while generating brand loyalty and more crucially, sustainable incremental revenue streams.”

Wireless device image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com