Gigaclear has secured £111m in additional equity funding to build new full fibre networks in rural Britain, enabling a significant acceleration in the build rate of ultrafast Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks across multiple counties, reaching hundreds of thousands of people.
The funding has been raised from existing shareholders and one new institutional investor.
Existing shareholders Infracapital and Woodford have committed to investing £60m and £15m respectively with other shareholders contributing a further £1m. RPMI Railpen, the investment manager for the Railways Pension Scheme, is the new institutional investor, putting £35m to work in the company.
"In recent months we have won significant tenders to deliver our broadband network to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across Devon, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Northamptonshire through the Government-backed BDUK programme," said Matthew Hare, Chief Executive, Gigaclear. "The new investment will fund the first stage of these new networks, along with other commercial network build projects.
"Full fibre is the future. This latest round of investment will enable Gigaclear to step up our speed of network delivery and is a clear signal of the confidence investors have in our continued expansion and success.
"Millions of rural homes and businesses across the country need better broadband and we want to reach as many of those in rural areas as quickly as possible. Our pure fibre network transforms lives by providing access to the fastest Internet speeds to be found anywhere in the world and technologically future-proofing these rural communities for years to come."
Ed Clarke, Co-Founder and Director, Infracapital, commented: "Gigaclear has made significant progress since we made our original investment and we are proud to be supporting the team as they roll out this essential infrastructure in underserved areas of the country."
Greg Mesch, CEO of fellow fibre trail blazer CityFibre, commented: "This is not only welcome news for the rural communities stranded on unsuitable copper infrastructure, it also serves to highlight the crucial role and growing momentum of competitive full fibre players and the rapidly increasing market support for full fibre investment.
"Alternative network providers like Gigaclear and CityFibre are playing a central role in transforming the UK's digital infrastructure. This will ultimately contribute towards safeguarding the nation's future as an economic force in a digital world."