Aerwave has landed its first round of institutional funding, a move that founder and CEO Alex Wey says is “all about scalability.”

The Dallas-based connectivity platform startup has raised a $20 million Series A funding round led by Moderne Ventures to rapidly expand its technology footprint across the country.

“Our platform is for multifamily owner-operators to connect all their technologies that they’re deploying in these communities, then use that same platform to resell internet service to residents as an alternative to the cable operator,” Wey told Dallas Innovates. “We have this dynamic tool that allows users to create a network and stores them in the cloud, then delivers them to real-time locations when that user is in that location.”

Taking your Wi-Fi with you

Alex Wey, founder and CEO of Aerwave. [Photo: Aerwave]

Focused “almost exclusively” on the multifamily space, Aerwave’s patented technology provides communities with internet access across a property without the need for individual routers in each unit.

To do so, the company creates a virtual network at a community that automatically recognizes and authenticates residents, allowing them to connect to their own individual, cloud-based Wi-Fi network anywhere on the property and at other properties where its tech is installed.

“Our platform today, which allows for a Wi-Fi network to appear in real-time in locations where I am,” Wey said.

“We’re spinning up a network such that the device is actually authenticating the network itself. We’re creating a much more familiar experience for residents, and a more secure one,” he added.

‘This might be the last Wi-Fi network you ever have to connect to’

Founded in 2019, after the idea behind Aerwave came to Wey while working in his backyard and finding himself unable to connect to his own Wi-Fi but able to connect to his neighbor’s if he had the password, the company has grown to around 40 employees, most of which work remotely. In that time, the company has deployed its technology across 18,000 apartment units in 17 different markets.

“Today, we’re deploying 10,000 units at the same time. Our goal is to be able to do that at 50,000 units simultaneously,” Wey said. “The idea is that this might be the last Wi-Fi network you ever have to connect to because now the network is moving around while you do, as opposed to being static.”

New funding will help Aerwave nearly double its team

Aerwave’s latest round of funding was joined by World Cinema, Equity Residential, RWT Horizons, Westover Companies, along with a number of investors that the company counts as clients, Wey said.

With the new money, Wey said the company is focusing on investing in its people and process as it looks to deploy its platform into nearly 90,000 multifamily units across 30 markets by the end of next year. To help with that Wey said Aerwave will likely double its team over the course of the next year. He added that the company is eying an expansion into the hospitality space via the help of one of its new backers.

“Our anticipation is to do what we do today at-scale before we start moving into other verticals,” Wey said. “Owners of apartment communities are trying to redefine the present experience daily and every technology helps them do that in some form or fashion. This is one of those things. So, we’re focused on helping owners to find experience for residents.”

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