Israeli cloud-managed open platform Qwilt recently announced that it has raised USD 70 million in new funding, taking its current valuation to approximately USD 800 million.
Cisco led the investment, in which the company’s existing investors took part. It was unclear whether the round included a secondary element for shares to be be purchased from employees.
Qwilt has developed software that accelerates the pace and streaming of live video and video on demand (VOD) broadcasts and reduces latency. The company’s product is already integrated into Cisco solutions as part of a strategic partnership announced last year.
The investment will enable the company to accelerate the development of its technologies and support its global growth. In addition, Qwilt will likely add some 150 employees to its ranks, around 100 of which will be programming positions based in Israel.
Qwilt’s software solution will be integrated within Cisco products as part of a strategic partnership, the two companies announced last year.
“This investment signals an inflection point for Qwilt and Cisco to expand upon our shared vision to help service providers use edge computing to deliver digital content experiences from their own networks,” said Alon Maor, CEO and co-founder of Qwilt. “We are ready to accelerate our efforts by hiring new talent, elevating our marketing efforts, and putting R&D into action for mass-scale growth.”
Qwilt’s technology optimizes network traffic for a continuous and high-quality broadcast. When the company’s system recognizes high demand for certain content, it uses open caching of the content at a location nearest to the center of consumer demand and improves the streaming and viewing experience. The software is cloud-based. It can be operated from any location and be integrated into existing infrastructure.
“Streaming is a primary focus for most service providers today to drive revenue. Cisco’s investment in Qwilt demonstrates our commitment to helping customers monetize their edge cloud infrastructure with a solution that improves the quality of service and reliability,” said Jonathan Davidson, executive vice president and general manager, Mass-Scale Infrastructure Group, Cisco. “We are seeing great momentum with customers around the world who believe in the powerful combination of Qwilt and Cisco to take them to the next level with an innovative content delivery platform for streaming and on-demand services, new applications, and more.”
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