Andrena, a wireless internet provider, has raised $18 million in an extended Series A funding round. The round was led by Dragonfly Capital with participation from CMT Digital, Castle Island Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, 6th Man Ventures, and ParaFi. This brings the total funding raised by Andrena to $38 million.
The funds will be used to develop a decentralized broadband protocol called DAWN (Decentralized Autonomous Wireless Network). DAWN aims to allow users to sell their excess internet bandwidth to a network of providers. It utilizes decentralized physical infrastructure networking (DePIN), which involves a network of wireless base stations attached to rooftops to provide mesh internet access without a centralized provider.
Neil Chatterjee, co-founder of DAWN and Andrena, explained the vision behind the project: “DAWN aims to do to the internet what solar panels did to electricity.
Andrena expands DAWN with new funding
The same way consumers own and generate their own utility and sell their excess back to the grid, there is now an opportunity to do the same with wireless home and business internet.”
Andrena currently delivers internet services across 10 U.S. states, including New York, New Jersey, Texas, Tennessee, Florida, and Pennsylvania, covering hundreds of homes.
The company plans to gradually transition its existing customer base onto the new DAWN protocol, which will use blockchain token incentives. Customers will be able to purchase DAWN tokens via a mobile app and exchange them for internet bandwidth from the network. In addition to the main network, Andrena has launched a Chrome browser extension that allows anyone globally to join as a validator.
These users help support the network by providing computational power and can earn tokens as rewards for staying connected, referring friends, and participating as validators. The new funding will support the completion of the DAWN protocol and further expansion of Andrena’s subscriber base. The project is currently in a testnet phase on the Solana blockchain, with no announced timeline for a full launch.
At launch, Andrena aims to cover more than 3 million households and has plans for global expansion in the future.
