INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
GoTenna is best known for its outdoors-oriented consumer products that let you text and share locations between smartphones off the grid
networking over radio frequencies normally used for walkie-talkies: long range but low bandwidth
connections are impractical
Just turn on the device, smaller than a deck of cards, and you can chat over miles in the middle of nowhere with your climbing partners or
GoTenna works with nearly any smartphone and instantly creates a mesh network that can span miles, making it perfect for off-grid
We always felt that product was going to bring in the public sector
example of how the interface might look in use
It can relay the locations of other GoTenna devices at intervals, helping teams keep in touch automatically.While disaster response crews
Pro and new ProX versions of the GoTenna system hit a lot of sweet spots
As Perdomo told me when the Pro first came out, legacy systems are powerful in some ways but can also be horribly expensive, incompatible
with foreign wireless systems or even have legal restrictions on where they can be used.For a cash-strapped NGO that goes around doing
global aid, a $100-$500 gadget that turns an ordinary phone into a versatile mesh node is potentially game-changing
(You can also use them to temporarily replace destroyed communications infrastructure.)But deep-pocketed federal agencies and military
branches are also shelling out for the devices, and increasingly for the software support contracts that go with them
infrastructure without relying on any wireless providers
scary kid on the block: communications satellite constellations like Starlink and OneWeb
satellites you put up, repeaters you put up, cables you lay down, you always have that last mile
And having an existing, ongoing business agreement with a satellite communications provider may not even be desirable in the first
growth the company is experiencing, finishing the pro and embedded options, hiring up and expanding operations to support their growing
The $24 million round was led by Founders Fund, with participation from Comcast Ventures and existing investors Union Square Ventures,
All of the most impressive mainstream telecommunications technologies we use today, things like the internet or GPS, they hit it out of the
park with the public sector first
