Smarter phone networks coming — WiChorus will know your location

September 13, 2007 | Matt Marshall

WiChorus, a San Jose, Calif. maker of a device giving telecom providers better control of personal data on coming high-powered WiMax networks, has received $15 million in a second round of financing .

The company has been secretive until now, and hasn’t launched yet, but its plans are notable: Its hardware, called an “access services network gateway,” lets a telecom provider track a user’s location, among other things. This way, publishers or other services transporting data over the network can serve more relevant ads to the person, according to VentureWire (subscription required). It also allows the telecom provider to control traffic and manage its services more efficiently.

WiMax networks boost the performance of wireless broadband — WiMax’s range is is as much as 10 miles, compared to WiFi’s reach of a few hundred feet. Sprint and Clearwire are building WiMax networks for use as early as next year.

New investor Mayfield Fund led the round, which included existing investors Redpoint Ventures and Accel Partners. The company has now raised $25 million.

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Tags: deal

About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.