Dallas-based AT&T Inc. announced Thursday that it is investing up to $200 million in a venture capital fund targeting startup companies that focus on connected services and platforms.
AT&T said it will work with Minnesota-based Coral Group’s Communications Industry Platform team to identify and invest in the startups. Coral has invested in more than 100 technology companies.
The effort is intended to help AT&T develop solutions for some of the toughest technology challenges focused on the Internet of Things.
“This investment is part of our push to address the needs of global service providers.”
ANDRE FUETSCH
“This investment is part of our push to address the needs of global service providers,” Andre Fuetsch, chief technology officer and president of AT&T Labs, said in a release. “We look forward to collaborating with Coral and other CIP members to find — and even create — startup companies to build disruptive technologies to solve these challenges.”
The company said the fund will invest in technologies that operate on the Open Network Automation Platform, an operating system for software-defined networks. ONAP was created from a merger between a platform devised by AT&T Labs and an existing open-source effort, and is being used to manage AT&T’s own cloud network. ONAP now is an open-source platform hosted by the Linux Foundation.
Coral Group and AT&T will identify more startup companies in the future in which the venture capital fund can invest.
The investment joins AT&T Labs and the AT&T Foundry innovation centers as the company’s latest innovation program.
AT&T said it started the innovation centers in 2011, in part, to work with the startup and open-source communities.
Dallas Innovates, every day
R E A D N E X T
-
At a time when Venture X is planning to rapidly expand its footprint, the coworking company has teamed up with local workspace innovator Vari to furnish all of its new properties.
-
Vision2 Systems, a fast-growing online giving platform designed for churches, will use the $2.8 million investment for expansion.
-
Structured as a Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) through the U.S. Small Business Administration, the fund aims to fuel the growth of privately held, lower middle market businesses in the southern U.S.—with a particular focus on businesses in Texas and the Gulf Coast.
-
Two nonprofits will each receive $250,000 in grant funding. The Capital One grants are part of a $3.5 million commitment to 12 nonprofit organizations.
-
The Dallas firms are among 14 Texas shops "that founders will love" on Inc.'s 2021 list of private equity and venture capital firms. Inc.'s list of 146 founder-friendly investors is its biggest yet.
