Alereon closes $31.5M first round

Ultrawideband (UWB) chip start-up Alereon this week announced $31.5 million in first round financing. The round was led by Austin Ventures with participation by Pharos Capital, Centennial Ventures, Kinetic Ventures, eCentury Capital, Duchossois Technology Partners, PTV Sciences, and other investors. The company says the new funding will allow it to operate through to the end of 2005 and bring its first chips to market. This is an impressive first round, especially given the fact that the IEEE has been unable to develop a standard for UWB. Alereon is a member of the MultiBand OFDM Alliance (MBOA), an organization led by Intel and Texas Instruments that is pushing one of two leading standards for UWB. The company's chips will compete with products using a rival standard advanced by Motorola.

Source: CNET, Alereon Press Release