Menlo Microsystems, Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based electronic switch company, closed a $44m Series B funding round.
The round, which brings total funding raised to date to $78m, was led by 40 North Ventures alongside Piva, Paladin Capital Group, Vertical Venture Partners, and Tony Fadell’s Future Shape. Menlo Micro is also backed by Corning and Microsemi.
Menlo Micro has created a new category of electronic switches, with its Ideal Switch™, which combines electromechanical and solid-state switches to bring reductions in size, weight, power, and cost to dozens of industries such as medical, aerospace and defense, telecommunications, consumer electronics, industrial IoT, and Test and Measurement.
These reductions will bring improvements for:
- Radio performance in critical defense, government, radar, and commercial communications networks;
- RF/Microwave switching with applications including 5G cell networks, radio, satellite, and wi-fi;
- The transition to 5G, reducing losses, improving efficiency, and supporting the deployment of new frequency bands and vital measurement equipment; and
- Consumer cell phone usage, including fewer dropped calls, higher data rates (high speed/higher capacity), improved coverage, and longer battery life.
Throughout the past year, Menlo Micro has sampled products from its new production line to over 30 lead customers in its core target market groups including 5G mobile networks, aerospace and defense, and test and measurement.
The funding will also enable the company to accelerate its expansion into new markets over the next few years, leveraging the Ideal Switch™ ability to handle kilowatts of power. This will create additional opportunities in industrial IoT, home automation, electric vehicles, medical instrumentation, quantum computing and more.
The team includes:
- CTO Chris Keimel
- SVP of Worldwide Marketing Chris Giovanniello
- CEO Russ Garcia and
- SVP Operations Jeff Baloun
FinSMEs
14/10/2020