Investment by Carmichael Partners Will Fuel Expansion
Cary, NC – March 30, 2011 –Bandwidth.com, the nation’s fastest growing phone network and provider of Phonebooth™ phone services and Broadband.com business Internet services, today announced the closing of a $22 million private equity financing from Carmichael Partners. Carmichael is a growth equity investment firm that was co-founded in 2010 by former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and veteran private equity investor Brian Bailey.
The funding enables Bandwidth.com to continue the company’s expansion into key strategic areas, such as the recent acquisition of 911 emergency services provider dash Carrier Services, and accelerate the already rapid growth of its small and medium business focused services, such as Phonebooth™, Bandwidth.com’s popular cloud-based phone service which doubled its customer base in the last quarter alone.
“We’re extremely pleased to welcome Carmichael Partners to the Bandwidth.com team,” said David Morken, Chief Executive Officer of Bandwidth.com. “Carmichael is an ideal investment partner for us due to its industry expertise and its ability to help us capitalize on future growth and strategic opportunities. This investment is great news for small and medium businesses and leading Voice 2.0 application providers who trust us to innovate for them.”
This funding news punctuates a series of recent major achievements for Bandwidth.com. The Company acquired dash Carrier Services in February and announced a landmark commercial deal with the Verizon wireline companies in January. Bandwidth.com completed a record-setting 2010, as it added thousands of new customers and became the sixth largest provider of phone number based services in the United States. In total, Bandwidth.com revenues will exceed $100 million in 2011.
The company also recently launched its Phonebooth Mobile™ offering and rolled out the all-new Broadband.com site. Broadband.com features an industry first online interactive national broadband map that provides previously unavailable marketplace information. Broadband.com goes beyond conventional broadband coverage mapping to provide businesses and consumers alike with critical user metrics, such as real-world download and upload speeds, penetration of broadband services in the user’s local market, and real-time pricing. Broadband.com sets the bar as a one-stop resource for informed broadband planning and purchasing.
“We are excited to partner with Bandwidth.com as the company continues to build upon its extraordinary record of innovation and rapid growth in the communications space,” noted Carmichael co-founder and prior FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. Fellow co-founder Brian Bailey added, “We believe this investment will enable the company to expand its service offerings and capitalize on numerous business opportunities with both existing and new customers.”
Bandwidth.com empowers small and medium businesses, entrepreneurs and innovators to focus on their core businesses, while Bandwidth.com drives down traditional costs and manages communications challenges.
Specifically, the company’s Phonebooth™ solutions provide small and medium businesses with a robust and simple-to-use cloud-based office phone system with unlimited domestic service. Phonebooth™ also deeply integrates with Phonebooth Mobile™ to deliver a unified communications experience for the country’s increasingly mobile workforce at a 30 to 50 percent cost-savings versus traditional carriers. On the wholesale side of its business, Bandwidth.com’s nationwide VoIP network powers Voice 2.0 innovators such as Skype, Pinger and other well established and emerging communications innovators.
The company’s business Internet unit, Broadband.com, boasts nationwide coverage in more markets than AT&T, Verizon and Qwest, making it the easiest place to buy business class Internet connectivity on the web.
About Bandwidth.com
Bandwidth.com is among the nation’s largest and fastest growing communication networks, providing services that demand millions of phone numbers annually and billions of minutes of calls for over 6,000 business customers in all fifty states, including industry leaders such as Skype and Pinger. For small and medium sized businesses, Bandwidth also provides integrated office phone systems, smartphones, and business-grade Internet connectivity. Founded in 1999, Bandwidth is a profitable company located in Research Triangle Park, NC. For more information, please visit http://www.bandwidth.com and http://www.phonebooth.com.
About Carmichael Partners
Carmichael Partners is a private investment firm that is focused on growth-oriented equity investments in three sectors – media, communications and information services. Carmichael’s investment strategy is to work actively with portfolio companies in these sectors to build and transform market-leading businesses. Carmichael believes that this operationally-focused approach appeals to certain families, founders and managers who seek an involved and value-added investment partner to help pursue growth and strategic opportunities, capitalize on industry trends and preserve the cultures of their companies. Carmichael was founded by veteran private equity investor Brian Bailey and former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. For more information, please visit http://www.carmichaelpartners.com/
Bandwidth.com Media Contact
Kevin LaHaise
Jones-Dilworth Inc.
kevin@jones-dilworth.com
413 244 8994
PR Archives: Latest, By Company, By Date