AeroScout has recently completed a $13 million internal fund raising round. $7 million was raised from the company's existing investors, and a further $6 million in the form of a venture loan. This is in addition to $10 million raised by the company at the beginning of the year.
The company, which was founded a decade ago, has so far raised a total of $70 million, including the current round. Investors in AeroScout include VC firms Pitango, Greylock, Star, and Menlo Ventures, and also Intel and Cisco.
AeroScout develops RFID locating chipsets for WiFi-based enterprise networks. The chips are similar to the tags on clothes in clothes shops. One of the applications of the solution is locating equipment such as infusion stands, wheelchairs, and beds in hospitals. The company's products are also installed in mines, on drilling platforms, in car factories, in the aviation industry (such as at Boeing), in semiconductor fabs (such as at Freescale), and at tire and glass factories. Hospitals account for about one third of the company's revenue.
AeroScout distributes its products through companies such as AT&T, IBM, Philips Healthcare NBC, Cisco, and Motorola.
The current fund raising round takes place at a time when the company is close to profitability, and the aim is to enable AeroScout to grow and meet demand for its products, Gabi Daniely, vice president for marketing and product strategy, told "Globes" today. "The first quarter was a record quarter for us for revenue. Revenue grew by 150% in the first quarter in comparison with the first quarter of 2008. Despite the crisis, demand in the second quarter has been very lively. Only recently, we closed two large deals," Daniely said.
Daniely says that about 80% of hospitals in the US have WiFi networks installed, and so buying and installing AeroScout's products makes sense, and helps them save costs using an existing network.
AeroScout's CEO is Yuval Bar-Gil. The company employs some 150 people.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on June 28, 2009
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