iBus Networks and Infrastructures, a networking solutions startup which provides connectivity solutions inside buildings, has raised Rs.150 million ($2 Million) in Series A round of funding, led by Vallabh Bhansali of Enam, N Squared Management LLC USA and the family office of Jagadish and Sandeep Mehta.
With this fresh funding, the company will now expand its presence to more than 12 cities from its current presence in 6 cities. Newly raised money will also help help the company to drive deployment in over 60 million sq ft of space within the next six quarters from around 14 million sq ft currently.
Along with announcing the closure of its Series A round, the company has also announced the appointment of Sanjay Kapoor and T. V. Mohandas Pai as a member of its advisory board. Both of them are also investors in the company.
The company is aiming to solve problems of connectivity through its four dimensional approach: Talk, Sync, Sense and Find. To solve the problems of connectivity inside larger buildings, the company’s solutions involve placing antennas, base stations, using single wi-fi bandwidth and emitting ultrasonic signals among other hardware components.
iBus is currently providing internet solutions to 24 sites in six southern cities, which includes Kochi, Bengaluru and Chennai among others. It is now planning to expand its services to Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata, said company’s CEO.
As per the company, the existing round of funds would help it deploy its infrastructure in about 60 million sq ft. It is planning to raised another Rs. 350 million to reach its goal of 400 million plus sq ft.
Ram Sellaratnam, Chief Executive Officer at iBus said,
Today connectivity is basic utility. When people look at premises, they check water, electricity and connectivity. If connectivity is poor, the location will suffer. Inside buildings connectivity is a multi-dimensional problem. Our patent pending technology platform comprehensively solves voice, data, proximity marketing and machine to machine connectivity problems. That makes us a unique and innovative solution provider.
