MATTHEW BYATT
Managing Partner
The funding will be used to expand the current team, drive US and global expansion, and develop the technology further as demand for the company’s cutting-edge digital signal processing IP grows among mobile operators, telecoms equipment vendors, satellite operators and connected device manufacturers.
Low latency and high spectrum efficiency are crucial in protecting cellular and other radio networks from insufficient capacity, low data rates, sparse coverage and poor quality-of-service. Despite the roll-out of early 5G networks these factors remain an issue that risk stifling new revenue opportunities for operators from services such as gaming or VR, industrial IoT, autonomous vehicles or drone control.
AccelerComm’s cutting-edge channel coding IP is used to correct transmission errors in mobile, small cell and satellite communications caused by noise, interference and poor signal strength. This technology is optimised for the specific needs of cellular and satellite communications to provide market leading performance and efficiency. The product suite includes a complete channel coding IP solution that delivers reduced latency and power consumption for the most critical component of a 5G system, whilst meeting all the throughput and error correction targets. The AccelerComm IP packages can be quickly integrated and flexibly delivered for use in custom silicon (ASIC), programmable hardware (FPGA) or as software solutions, covering all use cases within the current standards.
Founded by Professor Rob Maunder at the University of Southampton in 2016, AccelerComm has established itself as a leader in the field of channel coding, also known as forward error correction, and is already working with Intel, Xilinx and National Instruments. Driven by a leadership team comprising of executives and senior talent from ARM, Qualcomm and Ericsson, the company was recently named in the EE Times Silicon 100: Emerging Startups to Watch and continues to push the state-of-the-art in channel coding technology.
Tom Cronk, CEO of AccelerComm said: “From gaming and VR to automated robotic manufacturing lines and telemedicine, the use cases on the road to 5G appear almost limitless. But a critical roadblock remains – latency. For more than 15 years a research team led by Prof. Maunder, first at the University of Southampton and now at AccelerComm, has been working to solve the challenge to deliver on the 5G promise of a low latency, high throughput experience. We are delighted to have closed our Series A funding round, which will help us further develop and deploy our already market leading technology to help improve the efficiency of networks for many years to come.”
Max Bautin, Managing Partner at IQ Capital commented: “We are very excited that we have been able to partner with AccelerComm in this round of funding. Squeezing ever more data into limited radio spectrum at faster and faster speeds is a huge challenge facing the telecoms industry. Improving the efficiency and reliability of data transfer has become critical to many industries – not just in cellular networks and IoT but also satellites, drones, fixed wireless internet and anything else that uses radio waves. AccelerComm’s track record of selling to globally very sophisticated blue-chip customers and deep IP are very impressive. The amazing founding team combining cutting edge academic and industry knowledge with ex ARM DNA gives AccelerComm incredible growth potential.”
David Leftley, CTO and co-founder of Bloc Ventures and Lee Thornton, Investment Director at IP Group said: “Bloc and IP Group are delighted to be partnering with Max and the IQ Capital team on taking AccelerComm to the next level of scale. We believe we have the makings of something very special in AccelerComm, something we have not seen in the UK since the early days of ARM”.
AccelerComm were advised through the funding process by Acuity Advisors, UK.
Tom Cronk, CEO at AccelerComm:
“Acuity Advisors provided excellent support throughout our funding process. In particular, they demonstrated a strong network of investment partners and a sound understanding of our business requirements to facilitate positioning AccelerComm accurately and in a compelling light right from the outset.”
Bruce Beckloff, Co-Founder and CEO at Bloc Ventures:
“Bloc invests in and scales deep tech companies. An important part of our operating model is to collaborate with top-tier advisors who help us implement this strategy. With Acuity we have a broad strategic partnership across our entire portfolio because Acuity Advisors really understand deep tech. We have been impressed by the way they engage with Bloc companies to deliver outstanding results and AccelerComm’s recent funding round is just one example of this.”
Matthew Byatt, Managing Partner at Acuity Advisors:
“AccelerComm is a company with real momentum and this latest funding round is another significant and deserved milestone. It was a privilege to work with the management team, IQ Capital, IP Group and Bloc Ventures on this transaction which now gives AccelerComm the necessary financial strength to accelerate their growth plans. This is Acuity Advisors’ fifth semiconductor deal this year and once again, underpins our market-leading position in the sector.”
“Acuity Advisors provided excellent support throughout our funding process. In particular, they demonstrated a strong network of investment partners and a sound understanding of our business requirements to facilitate positioning AccelerComm accurately and in a compelling light right from the outset.”
TOM CRONK | CEO
Accelercom
Team Members
THOUGHTFUL SUB HEADLINE GOES HERE.
Matthew is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Acuity and leads the Acuity Advisors’ Deeptech practice.
Matthew has held senior leadership and corporate finance positions with some of the UK’s most successful and influential technology and consultancy companies. Roles with ARM, McKinsey and Cadence have given Matthew an exceptional insight into the world’s most successful businesses and a number of the UK’s eminent start-ups, underpinning his success at Acuity.
Matthew has considerable experience across a broad range of technology sectors throughout the UK, US and Asia, ranging from nanotechnology, semiconductor and cleantech to digital media and internet businesses. It’s experience that has given him a robust, well-developed and international network. Having also run and successfully exited his own business, Matthew has a deep understanding of the financial and emotional aspects of this demanding process, bringing a unique and authoritative perspective to each business sale.
One of Matthew’s strengths is understanding complex technical value propositions, one of the benefits of training as an electronic engineer. He gets to the heart of what drives a company’s value and communicates this persuasively to potential buyers and investors. Matthew understands a buyer’s motivation intuitively and delivers a compelling rationale for why a business sale should be of strategic interest. His insight consistently yields higher deal values and results in great successes for his clients.