Cambridge-based Antenova has won $12m in funding to continue development and marketing of its integrated antenna technology.

Greg McCray

"Our strategy is to continue to provide our customers and partners with superior technology, market led products and become the global supplier of choice for integrated RF solutions."

The funding comes at an important point for the company. Just last week the firm announced a contract to supply Motorola with more than one million of its compact quad-band dielectric antennas.

Late last year the firm said it could cover five frequency bands with its antenna technology, including all three 2G cellular bands, both wireless LAN frequencies, and also offer GPS.

The firm's High Dielectric Antenna (HDA) technology allows multiple antennas to be sited very close together without detuning. Technologies it can target include GSM, CDMA, 3G, GPS, 802.11a/b and Bluetooth.

The Series C funding round included further investment by existing shareholders, including Quester, Cambridge Gateway Fund, FNI Venture Capital and Nippon Investment Fund.

"Antenova’s team has an impressive track record in their field, and have devised a sound strategy for growing their business," said William Sporborg, investor director at the Cambridge Gateway Fund.

He said the firm "is well positioned to meet the needs of the global handset and laptop RF antenna markets, which is predicted to grow to over $2bn by 2008. The Company has already secured major handset and module customers with their multiband antenna products, and is interesting key players with their next generation of integrated RF and antenna products”.

www.antenova.com