G.fast chip vendor Sckipio Technologies closes Series B funding

Sckipio Technologies, a startup focused on provision of G.fast modem chipsets, celebrated the recent ratification of the G.fast standard by revealing it has raised $17 million in Series B funding. Pitango Venture Capital, a new investor, led the round with Sckipio's existing investors Gemini Israel Ventures, Genesis Partners, Amiti Ventures, and Aviv Ventures joining in.

The new investments follow the $10 million Sckipio raised in Series A. Sckipio Vice President of Marketing Michael Weissman says the company will use the money to bring its recently announced devices to commercial production (see "G.fast chipsets from Sckipio Technologies debut"), as well as on additional R&D.

The company already has several design wins for the devices, which currently compete with chips Broadcom has unveiled (see "Broadcom debuts end-to-end G.fast offering"). Weissman says Sckipio's purpose-built G.fast devices will provide better performance than Broadcom's chips, in particular in terms of vectoring support; Sckipio's offering will support 64 ports of vectoring, Weissman says. He also expects Sckipio's chips to offer better power consumption due to the efficiency of their architecture.

Weissman expects further competition from companies such as Ikanos. He also allows that at least some systems developers have been working on chips in-house. Nevertheless, Weissman says that Sckipio is actively engaged with all of the major systems players, including those rumored to have their own chip initiatives.

There likely will be plenty of business to go around, judging by the first round of market projections. "The G.fast market is expected to reach $2.9 billion by 2020," said Susan Eustis, president of WinterGreen Research, via a Sckipio press release. "The opportunity to participate in G.fast chips markets is compelling. G.fast provides the ability to leverage outdated copper infrastructure to breathe new life into existing investment."

"The market for G.fast is about to explode," concurred Eitan Bek, general partner, Pitango Venture Capital, whose investment in Sckipio earned it a seat on the company’s board. "But what makes Sckipio a special opportunity is its combination of a world-class team, incredible technology, and deep expertise in the G.fast market."

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