IP : AccelerComm Ltd - AccelerComm secures £5.8m Series A funding from IQ Capital, Bloc Ventures and IP Group to Supercharge 5G Communications

University of Southampton spin-out to use funding to scale IP technology business which significantly improves user experience and network operator efficiency

AccelerComm, the University of Southampton spin-out supercharging 5G and other wireless communications, has raised £5.8m in Series A funding in a round led by IQ Capital alongside existing investors Bloc Ventures and IP Group plc.

The company, which is working with Intel, Xilinx and National Instruments, plans to use the funding to expand the current team, drive US and global expansion, and to continue to develop its technology which significantly reduces latency (the bottleneck delay present in all wireless communications systems which has a severe and detrimental impact on both the user experience and network performance).

Low latency and high spectrum efficiency are crucial in protecting cellular and other radio networks from insuffcient 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.

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.'

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. Driven by a leadership team comprising 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.

Lee Thornton, Investment Director at IP Group, commented: 'As the founding investor in AccelerComm we have supported this company from its inception as a university spin-out and the completion of this funding round marks yet another milestone in AccelerComm's journey towards widespread commercial success. This new capital will support the company in increasing the adoption of its technology by clients across the globe and will build on the early success already achieved with several blue-chip customers. We have little doubt that the AccelerComm technology will form an essential part of the next generation of wireless communication systems (including 5G networks) over the coming years and look forward to being part of that story.'

Notes to Editors

About AccelerComm

AccelerComm is the company supercharging 5G with Optimisation and Latency Reduction IP. It provides LDPC, polar and turbo FEC solutions which enable optimal performance of communication systems and solves the challenges that would otherwise limit the speed of 5G, namely the error correction decoding that is required to overcome the effects of noise, interference and poor signal strength. For more information please visit: www.accelercomm.com

About IP Group

IP Group is a leading intellectual property commercialisation company which focuses on evolving great ideas, mainly from its partner universities, into world-changing businesses. The Group has pioneered a unique approach to developing these ideas and the resulting businesses by providing access to business building expertise, capital (through its 100%-owned FCA-authorised subsidiaries IP Capital and Parkwalk Advisors), networks, recruitment and business support. IP Group has a strong track record of success and its portfolio comprises holdings in early-stage to mature businesses across life sciences and technology. IP Group is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the code IPO. For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com.