Wireless Disrupter CradlePoint Nabs $48 Million; Acquisitions Ahead

The fast-growing wireless networking solution company Cradlepoint closed $48 million in a Series B funding round Monday with plans to invest in its channel community, international expansion and new acquisitions.

"This certainly gives us the flexibility as we grow to look at some smaller companies we can tuck into our existing product line capabilities -- that was one of the drivers behind getting this funding done," said George Mulhern, chairman and CEO at Cradlepoint, in an interview with CRN. "We'd be looking at acquisitions specifically into areas that could really accelerate our cloud platform."

Mulhern said his Boise, Idaho-based company sells nearly 100 percent through the channel, and that funding will also go toward increasing field and marketing resources for partners as well as generating more leads.

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"(Cradlepoint) is extremely channel-focused, so we know it's going to trickle down the channel," said John Schissel, president of Source Inc., a Shawnee, Kan.-based wireless solution provider and longtime Cradlepoint partner. "Getting $48 million is pretty remarkable for a company that size. They're still on the move upward."

Cradlepoint has achieved greater than 50 percent CAGR and has quadrupled company revenue over the past three years, the company said. In 2014, the number of Cradlepoint partners with sales of more than $1 million doubled, according to Cradlepoint.

The company is also trying to expand internationally and build out channel partners and programs in areas such as Europe, the Middle East, Africa and certain parts of Asia.

"(Senior Vice President of Global Channel Sales and Alliances) Adnon Dow is really sharp and has the international skills, and is savvy to drive that business in the marketplace that they want to go after," said Schissel. "Global expansion will hopefully feed back to the partners that are here locally."

Additionally, Cradlepoint will invest funding to develop cloud-managed wireless WAN and security solutions, according to Mulhern.

The company competes in the Wi-Fi, M2M and networking routing market specializing in 4G LTE routers for M2M, Internet of Things and transportation. The products are used in an array of environments such as vending machines and mass-transit vehicles. Cradlepoint says it has the industry's most secure and reliable 4G LTE wireless WAN solutions for business continuity, application-specific networks, transportation and M2M and IoT applications.

The company's product portfolio also includes an enterprise cloud manager network management and application platform that integrates with LTE, as well as 3G/4G broadband routers for small business, retailers and home offices, according to Cradlepoint.

The funding round was led by the Salt Lake City, Utah-based private equity firm Sorenson Capital. LeGrand Lewis, Sorenson's managing director, and Ron Mika, its co-founder and managing director, will join Cradlepoint's board of directors.

PUBLISHED APRIL 13, 2015