It took longer than expected, but On-Ramp Wireless says today it has raised an additional $15 million in an expansion of the Series C funding round the San Diego company began last year.
Much of the new capital came from Enbridge, the pipeline transport company based in Calgary, Alberta, and reflects the pipeline industry’s growing interest in On-Ramp’s machine-to-machine (M2M) technology. Two existing investors, Third Wave Ventures and Energy Technology Ventures (a joint venture of GE Ventures, NRG Energy, and Conoco-Phillips), also joined in the additional funding, which brings On-Ramp’s Series C round to a total of $31 million.
The company had previously raided $37 million since it was founded in 2008, and had expected to raise $30 million for its C round before the end of 2012. It now has about 85 employees.
On-Ramp has been developing low-power, wireless networking technology that transmits data at a very low rate, for use in monitoring electric utility grids, pipelines, and irrigation systems that extend over thousands of square miles. Its competitors include Silver Spring Networks and Itron’s Cellular Solutions business (formerly SmartSynch).
Enbridge, Canada’s largest transporter of crude oil, plans to use On-Ramp’s wireless networking technology for long-range monitoring of its pipelines, according to Joaquin Silva, a co-founder who handed off his CEO duties last October to Kevin Hell, a computer industry executive and the former CEO of San Diego’s DivX. Silva is now On-Ramp’s executive vice president of corporate development.
“Enbridge really saw the potential of our technology at a cost point that enables them to move to real-time monitoring, rather than monitoring through physical inspections,” Silva said in a phone call.
In recent years, Enbridge and its U.S. company have come under
