Flarion grabs $45 million

Flarion announced Monday that it has raised $45 million for its second round of funding led by Pequot Capital, along with new investors Cisco Systems and Nassau Capital. The maker of wireless Internet access technology, spun off from Lucent Technologies in July 2000, closed its $12.5 million first round with investments from Bessemer Venture Partners, Charles River Ventures, Pequot and Lucent.

Flarion is working on software and chip designs for wireless Internet access that it will license to wireless equipment companies and telecom carriers. The technology will allow carriers to maintain a network that gives people access to the Internet wirelessly from laptops or handheld computers at average speeds ranging between 1.5 mbps (megabits per second) to 0.6 mbps, about as fast as DSL (digital subscriber line) technology. Flarion will start trials for its technology by the end of 2001 and expects to ship its products in the second half of 2002.