Celtro Raises $20 Million

Celtro Ltd., an Israel-based provider of switching solutions for the mobile backhaul market, has raised $20 million in new VC funding. Rho Ventures led the round, and was joined by return backers Genesis Partners and Cedar Fund. 

PRESS RELEASE

Celtro, a pioneer and leading global supplier of creative switching solutions for the mobile backhaul network, today announced the successful completion of a US $20 million financing round that will capitalize the company to profitability. The round was led by Rho Ventures, with the participation of existing investors Genesis Partners and Cedar Fund. The company will invest the proceeds to further expand international operations and to penetrate new markets.

This funding round demonstrates continuing confidence in the Celtro's accomplishments in the fast growing mobile backhaul network market.

“We are delighted to have raised such a significant round of funding, and are encouraged by our investors' confidence in what has become one of the most important mobile infrastructure playing fields – the backhaul network,” said Ron Zor, Chairman and CEO of Celtro. “We are especially pleased to welcome Rho Ventures as an investor, whose history of long-term investments and wealth of knowledge in the communications sector will add real value to our business,” he continued.

“We have followed the Celtro story for three years. The management team has delivered exceptional performance year after year, and leveraged its innovative technology platform into meaningful traction with some of the world's leading mobile operators,” said Ben Terk, partner with Rho Ventures.

In conjunction with the financing, Ben Terk will be joining the Celtro Board of Directors. Mr. Terk currently serves on the boards of Alien Technology, IdenTrust, Gearworks, PHT and Solicore.

About Celtro

Celtro provides creative mobile backhaul switching solutions that improve service delivery, increase network efficiency, and facilitate smooth backhaul network evolution – helping providers enhance revenues, improve customer satisfaction, lower operational costs and optimize their backhaul network assets. Already adopted by top-tier providers worldwide, Celtro's solutions focus solely on the cellular backhaul.

Celtro has commercially deployed its backhaul switching products in the mobile networks of more than 50 leading operators, servicing more than 350 million subscribers in Europe, Africa and Latin America. For more information see http://www.celtro.com.

About Rho Ventures

Rho Ventures, a division of Rho Capital Partners, has been backing emerging and high growth companies primarily in the U.S. since its inception in 1981. Venture capital and growth equity funds under management currently exceed US $1.7 billion. Rho Ventures has invested in approximately 200 companies and helped build market leaders across many high growth industries. The firm is currently investing Rho Ventures V, a US $425MM fund launched in 2005. Previous investments include Ciena Corporation, Compaq Computer (currently part of Hewlett Packard), Diversa, Human Genome Sciences, iVillage (currently part of NBC Universal), Leukosite (currently part of Millenium Pharmaceuticals), MedImmune, Senomyx, Silicon Graphics, Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Vicuron and Yantra (currently part of Sterling Commerce). For additional information, please visit http://www.rho.com.