Silicon Valley-based deep-tech company Velmenni has raised ₹30 crore in a Pre-Series A funding round led by pi Ventures. Investors MountTech Growth Fund-Kavachh and Apekso also participated.
The company said the funding will support the commercial rollout of its light-based wireless communication technology. The systems use Free Space Optics and Light Fidelity for network connectivity.
Velmenni develops backhaul and last-mile connectivity systems for 4G-LTE, 5G and FTTx broadband networks. The company said the technology can reduce deployment time and avoid spectrum licensing or cable trenching.
The firm plans to expand deployments for communication service providers, defence organisations and enterprises. It will also develop systems for defence and enterprise use and expand into international markets.
Founder and CEO Deepak Solanki said, “We aim to capture a sweet spot where fibre is too slow to deploy, radio frequency is too interference-prone to trust and licensed-band communication is too expensive,” Solanki said.
He added, “With an all-weather tested design, we offer 10Gbps+ connectivity across ranges of 1–25 km.”
The company said it has completed multiple proof-of-concept projects and more than 50 deployments across India, Southeast Asia and operators in the United States.
Velmenni also deployed a carrier-grade FSO backhaul link for a private 5G network at a power plant in Odisha operated by GMR Group.
The system maintained network availability for over 18 months, according to the company.
The firm said it has received support from the Department of Telecommunications and the Ministry of Defence through the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) programme.
Partner at pi Ventures, Shubham Sandeep, said the company has demonstrated deployments of its technology.
“They have demonstrated the ability to translate a new technology into real-world commercial deployments,” Sandeep said.
Velmenni said the funding will support wider deployment of optical wireless communication systems.
The company was founded by Deepak Solanki and focuses on Li-Fi and Free Space Optics communication systems.