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Qualcomm Ventures today announced new investments in four companies to help advance innovation and accelerate 5G adoption within the ecosystem, through its 5G Ecosystem Fund. The companies include Celona, an enterprise networking platform provider that brings 5G to enterprises; Cellwize Wireless Technologies Inc. (Cellwize), a global enabler in mobile network automation and orchestration; Azion, an emerging provider of edge computing platform solutions; and Pensando Systems, a company pioneering the new edge services model of enterprise and cloud computing. To date, Qualcomm Ventures has invested over $170 million in the global 5G ecosystem to support 5G innovation and drive 5G adoption.
“Qualcomm is leading the world to 5G and creating a robust ecosystem of technologies that will usher in the new era of connectivity. We are committed to supporting companies with the vision to realize 5G’s potential impact on the mobile ecosystem, and its ability to reshape industries entirely.” said Quinn Li, Senior Vice President, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and global head of Qualcomm Ventures. “We are thrilled to support Celona, Cellwize, Azion and Pensando Systems to scale their businesses and accelerate 5G deployment and adoption.”
Qualcomm is a world leading wireless technology innovator and a driving force behind the development, launch and expansion of 5G. This provides Qualcomm Ventures with the unique ability to invest in startups innovating in the 5G ecosystem, including companies such as Affirmed Networks, Inc., Altiostar Networks, Inc., Airspan Networks, Inc., Beijing Baicells Technologies Co., Ltd, Jio Platforms Limited and others.
The goal of Qualcomm Ventures’ global 5G Ecosystem Fund is to transform breakthrough innovations and technologies into reality by using the power of 5G, accelerate 5G innovation, and drive 5G adoption beyond the smartphone. Along with capital investments, Qualcomm Ventures provides entrepreneurs access to Qualcomm Technologies expertise and networks, helping them build tomorrow's global businesses.
“As 5G continues to evolve, networks are shifting to a more open and virtualized model, and that is true for private networks too. In addition to being more flexible and open, automation and edge computing will be key features to seamlessly manage future 5G networks and support low latency applications. Qualcomm Technologies, through our 5G RAN platforms, is dedicated to support this shift and enable new and innovative 5G network deployments,” said Durga Malladi, SVP and GM, 4G/5G, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “As a part of this initiative, we are pleased to be working with companies such as Celona, Cellwize, Azion and Pensando Systems on this evolution of enterprise networks, and we are eager to collaborate with other companies to transform industries and use cases with 5G technologies.”
“Celona is excited to work with Qualcomm Technologies as we push the boundaries of wireless connectivity in the enterprise,” said Rajeev Shah, CEO and co-founder at Celona. “With private 5G, the entire industry needs to rethink enterprise wireless networks from product architectures to go-to-market models. We are looking forward to connecting with Qualcomm Technologies’ vast ecosystem of technology partners to lead the industry in enabling 5G connectivity in the enterprise.”
“Qualcomm Technologies is an industry leader in spearheading the research and development of technologies that are making the 5G connected world a commercial reality” said Ofir Zemer, CEO of Cellwize. “We are very excited to be working together on this important and impactful mission, and to collaborate on accelerating 5G.”
"The advent of 5G and software-defined networking (SDN), the proliferation of IoT devices and the growing demand for serverless applications are important enablers for Edge Computing, which processes data closer to where it is generated or needed”, said Rafael Umann, CEO at Azion. “At Azion, we simplify how enterprises and service providers build and run applications at the edge, providing a software-defined, open and programmable full-stack edge platform. We are excited to work with Qualcomm Technologies and its ecosystem to accelerate the adoption of 5G and edge computing”.
“While previous generational shifts have primarily focused on mobile speeds and services, 5G has the potential to transform our lives far beyond phones” said Prem Jain, CEO of Pensando Systems. “In addition to helping us scale our business, this investment from Qualcomm Ventures brings us an investor with a deep understanding of 5G technologies and requirements, as well as strong ecosystem relationships in every major market from healthcare to retail, automotive and manufacturing”.
Qualcomm Ventures has a long history and strong track record of investing in leading global start-ups with over $1.5 billion dollars deployed and over 360 investments made since the group started in 2000. Eleven portfolio companies had unicorn exits in the last five years, including Affirmed Networks, Zoom, Cloudflare, AMEC, Xiaomi, Mobike, Ring, 99, Cruise Automation, Thundersoft and FitBit. Qualcomm Technologies’ industry-leading research and unmatched expertise in mobile technology allows Qualcomm Ventures to serve as an ideal investor in start-ups that leverage 5G’s capabilities and bring forth the next wave of innovation.
About Qualcomm
Qualcomm invents breakthrough technologies that transform how the world connects, computes and communicates. When we connected the phone to the Internet, the mobile revolution was born. Today, our inventions are the foundation for life-changing products, experiences, and industries. As we lead the world to 5G, we envision this next big change in cellular technology spurring a new era of intelligent, connected devices and enabling new opportunities in connected cars, remote delivery of health care services, and the IoT - including smart cities, smart homes and wearables. Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including, our QCT semiconductor business. For more information, visit Qualcomm’s website, OnQ blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.
About Qualcomm Ventures
Qualcomm Ventures (qualcommventures.com), acting through Qualcomm Ventures LLC or its affiliated entities, has been making strategic investments in technology companies that have the potential to dramatically transform our world since 2000. As a global investor, we look to help entrepreneurs build revolutionary businesses that reshape the world around us.
About Celona, Inc.
Celona (celona.io), an enterprise 5G company, is focused on accelerating the adoption of business-critical apps on enterprise wireless and helping organizations implement new generation of digital business initiatives. Taking advantage of the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) in the United States, Celona’s solution architecture is designed to automate deployment of cellular wireless technology by enterprise organizations and their technology partners.
About Cellwize Wireless Technologies Pte Ltd
Cellwize (cellwize.com) is all about accelerating carriers' 5G business through powerful mobile access automation, which will allow them to shorten TTM of their Next Gen Networks. Its cloud-native, AI-driven open platform “CHIME’ enables mobile network operators (MNOs) to automate the configuration, management and optimization of networks and services in a multi-vendor environment; and with an advanced set of APIs, they can connect to any application and any vendor, as well as co-create on top of the platform. With Cellwize CHIME, MNOs gain unprecedented ease, speed and agility to accelerate the ROI on their network investments as well as time to market even in the most complex and dynamic network environments, charging ahead with 5G, and always ready for the services and networks of tomorrow. Cellwize solutions enable the 5G journey for MNOs across North America, Latin America, Europe and APAC.
About Azion Technologies Ltd
Founded in 2011, Azion (azion.com) enables you to build and run serverless applications at the edge of the network or your own premises, closer to users and devices. Azion's Edge Computing Platform is ideal for applications that requires low latency response times or real-time data processing and addresses some of the most complex computing and networking challenges, including availability, performance, scalability and security of mission-critical services. Considered by Gartner, Forrester and IDC as one of the top 10 technology trends impacting infrastructure and operations, Edge Computing delivers innovative mission-critical services needed to build the future of e-commerce, games, finance, media and applications such as IoT, AI, 5G, augmented reality (RA) and virtual reality (RV).
About Pensando Systems, Inc.
Founded in 2017, Pensando Systems (pensando.io) is pioneering distributed computing designed for the New Edge, powering software-defined cloud, compute, networking, storage and security services to transform existing architectures into the secure, ultra-fast environments demanded by next generation applications. The Pensando platform, a first of its kind, was developed in collaboration with the world’s largest cloud, enterprise, storage, and telecommunications leaders and is supported by partnerships with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, NetApp, Equinix, and multiple Fortune 500 customers. Pensando is led by Silicon Valley’s legendary “MPLS” team Mario Mazzola, Prem Jain, Luca Cafiero, Soni Jiandani and Randy Pond who have an unmatched track record of disruptive innovation having already built 8 $Bn/Year businesses across storage, switching, routing, wireless, voice/video/data, & software-defined networking. The company is backed by investors that include Goldman Sachs and JC2 Ventures. To learn more about Pensando, the Pensando Distributed Services Platform, our partners and plans for the future, please email us at info[.]pensando.io.
Contact: Mauricio Lopez-Hodoyan - Investor Relations
P: 858-658-4813 - E: ir[.]qualcomm.com.
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