Cradlepoint To Expand Channel Programs, Partner Incentives With New $89 Million Funding Round

Networking vendor Cradlepoint has nabbed $89 million in a Series C funding round with plans to invest some of the money in new channel programs and partner incentives.

"[We'll] continue to invest in our channel partner program, including additional new hires on the channel team, MDF and partner incentives," said Ed Walton, vice president of North American channels and alliances for Cradlepoint, in an interview with CRN. "We're a 100 percent channel company and fully committed to our partners' success."

Additionally, Walton said some of the funding will go towards increased lead generation to help partners grow their market shares and profitability.

[Related: Extreme Networks To Buy Avaya's Networking Business For $100 Million]

The Boise, Idaho-based networking vendor plans to also enhance Cradlepoint University this year, a partner enablement and certification program the company formed a few years ago.

Venture capital firm Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) was the sole investor of the round. Ted Coons, general partner at TCV, and Doug Gilstrap, a venture partner at TCV, have joined Cradlepoint's board of directors.

"Cradlepoint's technology is incredibly strategic," said Coons, in an email to CRN. "Cradlepoint allows us to make bets on critical trends sweeping the world -- from global rollout of wireless broadband to exponential growth in machine-to-machine communication and the Internet of Things."

Part of the $89 million funds will go towards expanding product initiatives around software-defined networking, advanced 4G and 5G wireless connectivity, and IoT.

Walton said Cradlepoint is "rapidly" evolving to deliver new solutions to help partners expand their IoT, SDN and software-defined WAN practices.

"Partners who can bring together solutions across a complex ecosystem to deliver real business outcomes and ROI will be well positioned to ride this wave of explosive growth," said Walton. "Our solutions make it easier for channel provides to sell higher-end services to small companies and for enterprise customers to support remote and branch offices."

Cradlepoint said it has achieved over 40 percent a compound aggregate growth rate (CAGR) over the past three years.

The privately-held company touts itself as the global leader in cloud-based network solutions, with over 15,000 enterprise and government organizations currently using Cradlepoint technology.

Since being founded in 2006, Cradlepoint has raised a total of $157 million in funding. The company has offices in Australia, California, Canada, Japan and the U.K.