Kineto Wireless gets $15M

FMC innovator Kineto Wireless received an additional $15.5 million in private funding, including a "strategic" investment from Motorola.

Motorola's investment is a part of a broader commercial relationship with its Home & Network Mobility business. Kineto's existing investors -- Oak Investment Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, Venrock, Seapoint Ventures and InterDigital -- also chipped in on the round, and NEC's earlier contribution is being counted in the total as well.

Kineto's software technology provides a link between unlicensed wireless services (i.e. Wi-Fi) and cellular data networks and can be found in T-Mobile's HotSpot@Home product. The next step for Kineto is to move beyond "vanilla" Wi-Fi/cellular bridges and use the same software technology to move into the femtocell market. Femtocells - mini cellular basestations hooked into a home broadband connection - help boost in-home cellular coverage and also can help to off-load broadband traffic onto a carrier's wireless network.

Kineto and NEC have created a standard to connect femtocells to a home network based on Kineto's UMA (unlicensed mobile access) technology. The latest round of funding is expected to support femtocell deployment and developments for NEC and Motorola, as carriers and equipment makers figure out the best way to roll out femto-networks.

For more:
- GigaOm talks about Kineto's latest VC round. Article [1].