Aira raises $14.5M for autonomous cellular networks

Aira Technologies, a cellular network infrastructure startup, has raised $14.5 million in Series B funding to further develop its generative AI platform and support more automation.

Why it matters: The round attracted strategic investors, including AT&T, that are increasingly seeking tools to improve operational efficiencies amid growing traffic demands and to strengthen U.S. infrastructure.

How it works: Based in Saratoga, California, the startup applies AI and machine learning to cellular infrastructure.

• Aira's software helps automate some tasks of radio frequency engineers. Its platform, Naavik, has improved operational efficiency by up to 20%. The startup also has provided up to 27% energy savings through better-managing radios, and it has boosted spectral efficiency.
• The co-founders — CEO Anand Chandrasekher and CTO RaviKiran Gopalan — both previously worked at Qualcomm and started Aira in 2019. The 20-person company is largely staffed by Ph.D.s and ex-Qualcomm.

What they're saying: "Others have talked about autonomous vehicles, autonomous cars, trains, boats, ships, everything. Not many people are talking about your cellular networks being autonomous, and that's nuts," Chandrasekher says. "It's a closed loop system."

• "A closed loop system lends itself much more to autonomous behavior than, say, a car where you might have a pedestrian climbing across your car front fender unpredicted," he adds.

Zoom in: Insiders NeoTribe and Acrew co-led the round and were joined by AT&T Ventures, Intel Capital, the CIA's venture capital arm IQT, Juniper and JTM.

• Prior, the company raised $13 million.

What's next: Chandrasekher says they raised the round for more hiring and accelerated product development.

Editor's note: The story was updated to correct the spelling of the CEO's surname.