The multi-million-dollar Series D round was led by Koch Investments Group subsidiary Koch Strategic Platforms (KSP) alongside existing investors – including Lightspeed Ventures, NEA, and Telstra Ventures – as well as new backers VMware, Juniper Networks and Intel Capital. KSP backed Mavenir last year.
Evercore acted as the sole financial advisor to Cohere.
The funds will be used to finalise the commercialisation of Cohere's USM Open RAN Software, which can be used for any generation mobile network. In short, the enhancement delivers a spectrum performance boost of up to 2X for both 4G and 5G networks simultaneously when spectrum is being shared using Cohere’s Universal Spectrum Multiplier (USM).
“Recent US auctions totalled more than $100 billion and underscore the massive value of licensed spectrum, and the opportunity to double the performance of this huge investment can’t be understated,” said Ray Dolan, chairman and CEO at Cohere Technologies. “Our software can now support multiple waveforms, including 4G, 5G and in the near future, 6G, and removes barriers to generational co-existence.”
Cohere said that because current DSS "penalises 5G mobile performance to accommodate 4G devices" its USM now enables MNOs to share spectrum between 4G and 5G subscribers to double performance, therefore taking advantage of Multi-User, Massive MIMO and cloud economics.
The USM software can be integrated by network equipment suppliers in the RAN or as an xApp in the telco cloud. Cohere has already demonstrated the enhanced performance for 4G FDD and 5G TDD for the likes of Vodafone on the MNO front and VMware, Intel, and CapGemini.
Dolan added: “We are thrilled to have KSP lead this financing. They are a terrific partner that truly knows this space and are fully committed to our growth. The strategic investors provide strong operational and technology support as we deliver on the full benefits of Open RAN.
“Together, we will make a fully automated, programmable cellular network a reality, offering global operators the best CAPEX performance and the most agile network that will naturally evolve beyond today’s 4G/5G capabilities.”
