Gaga for Google

by Rebecca Burn-Callander - Thursday, 1st November 2007 -

What higher accolade for a technology company than a $25m investment from Google, the Brobdingnagian icon of internet searching?

Swindon-based technology company Ubiquisys designs and manufactures femtocells, little base stations that pull together all your communications – mobile phone, land line, broadband, etc.

Ok, so it might not sound that exciting to us technological philistines, but there are a lot of media companies, home entertainment firms and big mobile operators getting hot under the collar for these snazzy widgets.

Put it this way: Google invested $25m in the company in July this year in return for an undisclosed stake, bringing the investment total to date up to $37m.

Not bad for a company that’s yet to sign a single contract.

Co-founder and CTO Will Franks might be an old hand at this funding lark now, but he had his fair share of sleepless nights in the early days. “The technology was brand new,” says Franks. “It was really difficult to get the first venture capitalist to invest in a product that was completely new to the market.”

Atlas Venture was the first to buy into the idea, to the tune of $2m. Accel and Accent Venture followed soon after for an A-round of funding worth $10m.

The founders only retain a minority stake now, but Franks is pragmatic: “If you’re building a company with the potential this one has, then a few per cent of a lot of something worthwhile is plenty. I’m not in it for riches beyond belief; otherwise, I’d be a bank robber.”