Irvine-based chip startup Mobix Labs Inc., which focuses on next-generation 5G wireless communications, is lining up a new funding round, according to CEO Fabian Battaglia.
Battaglia forecasts 2022 revenue at more than $13 million.
“We launched recently our next financing round and we’re in the midst of doing that. We’re looking to raise $30 million,” Battaglia told the Business Journal on April 21.
He said the round was recently announced to investors, and the company is now talking to the institutional banking community.
“We’re calling it a Series A,” the CEO said. It will take the company to about $45 million in money raised.
Mobix Labs was founded in 2020 and came out of stealth mode early last year, the same time it announced $10 million in funds. Its board’s executive chairman is longtime area tech executive Jim Peterson, who previously led Microsemi.
2nd Buy
Mobix Labs is pursuing a twin-track growth approach of organic growth and acquisitions, and recently announced the second acquisition in the company’s short history.
The company said on April 19 that it had agreed to acquire Advanced Interconnect Technologies (AIT), a St. Cloud, Minn.-based manufacturer and product development firm serving the military, defense, and commercial air and space industries.
Terms were undisclosed.
AIT provides fully automated precision manufacturing, assembly, product development and turnkey design services for highly sophisticated interconnects and components, as well as offers process validation, process control, and on-board probing for in-line measurements.
Mobix Labs last July said it had bought on undisclosed terms Cosemi Technologies Inc. of Irvine, a company that specializes in high-speed connectivity equipment.
“We’re continuing on the path where we grow organically with the core IP (intellectual property) that we have and we accelerate that growth with an M&A; strategy,” according to Battaglia.
Engineering Support
AIT has “milling experience in the connector application,” the CEO says. The acquisition will be immediately “accretive”—that is, positively adding to the company’s value.
“That’s going to open up some new markets for us there, which we’re excited about,” Battaglia said. “They’re going to be providing the engineering support for our connectivity business.”
Battaglia added: “They are experienced in the types of connectors that we’re involved with with our connectivity business.”
“With great synergies, the transaction is expected to be immediately accretive and provides additional cash flow, while further enhancing our combined valuation and ability to grow revenue,” said Keyvan Samini, chief financial and corporate development officer at Mobix.
Strategic Partnership
Last week, Mobix announced a partnership with San Diego-based wireless connectivity firm Airgain Inc. (Nasdaq: AIRG).
The partnership is “for the development of strategic, future-proof 5G technology.”
“The collaboration will focus on development of products designed to significantly reduce the cost of ownership and provide solutions in 5G coverage gaps among carriers that fall within high-band mmWave and C-band operating frequencies,” the companies said in a statement on April 26.
