ST. PETERSBURG, FL - Tower Cloud Inc., which provides backhaul services to mobile wireless carriers, has raised $25.5 million in equity funding, according to a regulatory filing.
Investors include Noro-Moseley Partners of Atlanta; Sutter Hill Ventures, Palo Alto, CA; El Dorado, Melo Park, CA; Ballast Point Ventures, St. Petersburg, FL; Kinetic Ventures, Atlanta and Chevy Chase, MD, The Burton Partnership, Tampa, FL; and Knology Inc., West Point, GA; and ITC Partners Fund I and telecom entrepreneur Cam Lanier.
Lanier led the company’s $20 million round in 2009.
The company disclosed the current financing in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The wireless backhaul business
Wireless backhaul refers to wireless communications systems that carry data from an end user to a node in a major network such as the Internet or the proprietary network of a large business, academic institution or government agency.
It can also refer to transmitting network data over an alternative wireless route when the normal one is not available or is over burdened.
“Wireless backhaul is one of the fastest growing areas in telecom. We feel the company is strongly positioned to serve the exploding bandwidth needs of wireless carriers.” said Lanier, chairman of ITC Holding Company at the time of the 2009 filing.
“Demand for wireless broadband service on cellular networks is expanding rapidly, driven by growing popularity of cellular smartphones and other advanced mobile wireless devices.
Builds and operates networks
As wireless carriers upgrade their cellular networks to provide 4G wireless data and Internet services their need for broadband backhaul service will continue to accelerate.”
Tower Cloud builds and operates fiber optic and wireless networks to connect cellular towers to the wireless carriers’ mobile switching centers. Wireless carriers utilize Ethernet and Sonet T-1 broadband capacity provided by Tower Cloud to manage the exploding volume of voice and data traffic on their cellular networks.
Tower Cloud currently operates backhaul networks in the greater Orlando, and Miami, FL markets and was in the process of constructing a new network in Atlanta, GA last year. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in St. Petersburg, FL. — Allan Maurer
To contact TechJournal South Editor & Writer Allan Maurer: Allan at TechJournalSouth dot com.
Tower Cloud Inc., a wireless backhaul services provider, has secured $49 million in additional equity to fund its expansion into new markets throughout Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama.
ATLANTA – 
