Founders: Jung-Il Choi, Steven Hong, Mayank Jain, Sachin Katti (CEO), Jeffrey Mehlman
Date launched: 2011
Funding: $20.4 million
Industries disrupted: Mobile, Telecom
Disrupting: AT&T, Comcast, Verizon
Competitors: Contextream, Fon, Kymeta
Kumu Networks came out of the research that co-founder Sachin Katti did while a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Stanford University. The company, started in 2011, provides technology that boosts the capacity of wireless networks, from cellular to Wi-Fi.
This technology cancels something called self-interference—the unwanted energy that leaks into a radio's receiver while transmitting. A radio using Kumu's self-interference cancellation technology can transmit and receive at the same time on the same frequency.
With wireless bandwidth becoming a scarce commodity, anything that enables a network to increase capacity could potentially be a game-changer. The company has raised more than $20 million in venture capital, led by Third Point Ventures, with participation from NEA and Khosla Ventures. The money will be used for product development and field trials to shrink down the technology to chip size so it works in mobile phones and Wi-Fi devices. The company says it should start booking revenues in late 2015.
Who do you dream of putting out of business?
"The Federal Communications Commission! Without interference to contend with, nearly 60 percent of the FCC’s workload is eliminated."