San Francisco, CA, April 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pollen Mobile announces the closure of a seed funding round that will accelerate the deployment of the world’s first privacy-focused, user owned and operated mobile carrier.
The investment round, led by Slow Ventures, was targeted at a diverse and strategically selected group of investors representing the telecom, crypto, hardware, entertainment, and traditional venture capital communities. Alongside Slow Ventures, participating investors included DISH Wireless, Delphi Digital, OVN Capital, and Acorn Pacific Ventures, among others.
“The world is long overdue for a genuine alternative to traditional mobile carriers who are known for customer dissatisfaction, high costs, spotty coverage, and a disregard for user privacy,” said Sam Lessin, General Partner at Slow Ventures. “Our belief in Pollen’s vision and the Pollen team has already been validated by the incredibly enthusiastic reception from the rapidly growing Pollen community.”
Pollen flips the script on the traditional, centralized mobile network model by empowering its user community to build, own, and operate a decentralized network infrastructure utilizing blockchain, the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum, and other open source technologies. The project has already deployed infrastructure in San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles, and last week completed its first nationwide hardware drop.
The seed funding round builds upon that brisk, organic growth by providing substantial runway and opening up key strategic relationships to catalyze the rapid expansion of the Pollen network.
“DISH is committed to building out a nationwide 5G Open RAN wireless network and innovation is a big part of this endeavor,” said Chris Ergen, Head of Wireless Innovation at DISH. “There is tremendous potential in decentralized wireless communications and we’re excited to be supporting Pollen’s vision for the future.”
“Pollen will take the world by storm as crypto incentives and a dissatisfaction with traditional wireless carriers lead consumers to easily deploy Flowers and own and operate the next-generation mobile network,” said Tom Shaughnessy, Co-Founder and Partner at Delphi Digital. "We're excited to see Pollen become the world's first Web3, privacy-focused mobile carrier.”
Publicly launched in January, Pollen was conceived less than a year ago by Pronto – an autonomous driving technology company – as a more flexible, lower-cost alternative to existing commercial connectivity solutions for their remote off-road operations. The Pronto team quickly realized the potential of pairing their technology with a cryptocurrency-based rewards model, which now powers Pollen’s coverage incentive system.
“Pollen is designed from the ground up to offer users a radical alternative for mobile connectivity that prioritizes privacy, reduces costs, and gives users the power to own and operate their network,” said Anthony Levandowski, Founder and CEO of Pollen Mobile. “We’re inspired by the high-caliber investors embracing our vision for the future of wireless communications and positioning us for our next phase of growth.”
--
About Pollen Mobile
Pollen Mobile is enabling the development of the world’s first decentralized, user owned and operated mobile network designed for privacy and anonymity. Pollen utilizes open source technologies and protocols, as well as a crypto economy built around the Solana blockchain-based PollenCoin token, to give its users the power to take back their mobile privacy with an affordable alternative to traditional mobile carriers. Additional information about Pollen Mobile can be found at www.pollenmobile.io
Attachments
