Celeno Communications, an Israel-based creator of wifi chips and other technology, has closed a $38 million funding round to fuel company expansion. The round was led by Red Dot Capital Partners – a sister entity of Singapore-based Temasek. Temasek is owned by the government of Singapore and maintains an investment portfolio of S$242 billion. Zvika Naggan, Managing Partner at Red Dot, has joined Celeno’s Board of Directors as part of the investment.
Previous investors also participated in the funding round including Liberty Global, Cisco, Pitango, 83North (formerly Greylock IL), Vintage and Miven. Equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd joined in with other new investors including Poalim Capital Markets, the investment arm of Bank HaPoalim.
“With this significant new investment round, combined with the calibre of investors backing us, we are able to continue executing our strategy, building a world class global company that will bring value to investors and shape the industry as a market leader,” stated Gilad Rozen, CEO of Celeno. “With this new round we have taken Celeno to the next level and are able to further accelerate our growth and expansion in the market as well as focus on enhancing R&D efforts and further developing our disruptive solutions.”
OurCrowd was recently awarded a full Capital Markets Services license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The initiative is part of a global strategy to expand its platform reach to investment opportunities around the world. OurCrowd has also inked a partnership with United Overseas Bank in Singapore to help fund Asian SMEs and establish a solid foothold in the region. Simultaneously Singapore has targeted the hot startup market in Israel for investment for several years now. Singapore wants to be the gateway for Israeli enterprises looking to establish operations in Asia.