Cloud4Wi, a provider of next generation cloud Wi-Fi solutions, recently announced that it had raised $4 million in a Series A funding round from United Ventures, Italy’s largest technology-focused Venture Capitalist firm, to support its international expansion.
Cloud4Wi’s cloud platform allows venues to monetize their provision of Wi-Fi services by leveraging the Cloud4Wi global expansion. We’re very excited to see marketplace – the first marketplace of its kind in the industry. Benefits of the marketplace to venues are multiple – they can promote special offers to customers via the branded splash portal, provide easy-to-use applications to help customers enjoy their visits, utilise powerful marketing tools to retain and develop their customer bases, capture customer data via sophisticated analytics tools and spread their brand thanks to social Wi-Fi.
Firmly positioned as leaders in Italy and with a place on the prestigious 2013 Red Herring Top 100 Europe list, Cloud4Wi’s eyes are now looking at the globe, with a focus on North America. It is growth in North America, in particular, that United Ventures is supporting with $4 million in Series A investment. The funding will, in part, assist a strategic new San Francisco- based office and a growing team.
In terms of market size, the Wireless Broadband Alliance recently forecasted growth to 55m hotspots in 2018 (over 100m including residential). They also predicted that diversity of venues would be a key trend over the next few years with stadiums and shopping malls being the main generators of demand growth. These findings clearly bode very well for the company.
“United Ventures are delighted to invest in such an innovative company with a strong management team and a real passion for
the company grow from strength to strength in the coming year,” said Massimilano Magrini, Co-founder and Managing Partner of United Ventures.
“Cloud4Wi’s cloud platform fulfils the emerging need of venues to monetize their Wi-Fi services and, as trends confirm, that is a global market with huge potential.” said Andrea Calcagno, CEO of Cloud4Wi. “The financial support and industry expertise of United Ventures will help us accelerate our growth in the international scenario more rapidly – and with the benefit of experience and relationships of a leading tech investor.”
Francesco Greggio, a junior equity partner of RQR & Partners led the team which included Gianluca Risaliti that advised the founders of Cloud4Wi, managing tax issues and company law for the cloud Wi- Fi solutions provider.
Commenting on the investment process, Francesco Greggio stated that “The greatest difficulty has been to manage the operation in different countries with different laws but following the success of the funding we are confident that Cloud4Wi will experience impressive growth within the coming years. RQR & Partners looks forward to continuing its relationship with Cloud4Wi.”
From www.finance-monthly.com
