Andrena — Series A (Oct ’22)

Brief Overview

Andrena designs and operates network infrastructure for delivering wireless internet services. The company currently serves 3.3K subscribers in its beachhead market — managed Wi‑Fi for multifamily residential buildings in the tri‑state area — and generates $1.1M ARR. Over time, Andrena plans to expand across suburban markets in the US and into other types of wireless internet services.

Andrena delights its customers with simple, fast, cheap home internet. In as little as three minutes, customers get their own high‑speed private Wi‑Fi network for $25/mo with no long‑term contracts. Meanwhile, T‑Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T customers have to install clunky physical routers, get locked into punitive annual contracts, and pay twice as much — if not more — for the same underlying service.

• T‑Mobile 5G Home Internet
• Verizon Home Internet
• AT&T Fixed Wireless

Team & Round

Andrena was founded in 2016 by Neil Chatterjee, a Princeton‑trained electrical engineer, and is now a team of ~20 employees. The company is raising a Series A led by Dragonfly with participation from Castle Island, CMT Digital, and Olshan Properties.

Key Stats

16 cities | 1M homes passed | 3.3K ISP customers (+15% MoM) | $1.1M ARR (+4× YoY) | % gross margin

Napkin math: 10M homes passed × 20% penetration × $35/mo × 80% gross margin × 15× gross‑profit multiple → $10B EV.

1) Software‑Like Margins From Proprietary Infra

Inner/transport layer: Local micro‑networks connect multifamily buildings via rooftop point‑to‑point radios, extending a single wholesale fiber endpoint ($2–3k/mo) over a ~3‑mi range. The network runs on high‑frequency mmWave spectrum for high throughput and less interference.

Outer/access layer: Proprietary Wi‑Fi 6 access points are installed in hallways & common areas. Access points are shared by 3–4 units (cost advantage) and tenants never touch a physical router (UX advantage). Typical build: ~$1k of rooftop hardware + $40 APs every third unit vs. Starry’s disclosed ~$60k rooftop hardware + $250 APs in every single unit.

These design choices yield best‑in‑class margins today, with a path to ~80% at scale. Longer‑term, Andrena can deepen the cost advantage by seeding a decentralized backhaul network that lets ISPs trade atomic units of backhaul, and by opening its access network via developer‑grade APIs for new wireless services (commercial/mobile/IoT).

• Starry cohort data
• AT&T on convergence
• DISH publishes APIs

2) Owning an At‑Scale ISP = Unfair DeWi Edge

With near‑zero marginal costs, Andrena can deploy Helium/XNET/Pollen radios atop existing infra to earn mining rewards, enjoying a 30–50% hardware‑driven cost advantage vs. pure‑play miners. This improves capital access from investors seeking early‑stage network exposure. Location advantages (tall buildings in suburbs) should further boost relative rewards.

Andrena is already among the largest miners on Helium’s 5G network. The moonshot is using Web2 momentum to seed a decentralized backhaul protocol that commoditizes the transport layer by enabling ISPs to trade backhaul capacity.

• EV3: Beyond Networks
• Crusoe Energy (analogy)

3) Missionary Team We’d Back for Decades

Neil is a first‑principles thinker with strong telecom perspectives, an execution machine for an operationally‑intensive ISP, and a recruiter capable of attracting high‑caliber talent. Key leaders include Anthony Ontiveros (CRO; ex‑RCN, TWC, Starry), Michael Weiss (VP, multifamily; ex‑RCN, CableVision, Starry), and Davian Litchmore (Network Ops).

• Anthony Ontiveros
• Michael Weiss
• Davian Litchmore

Top Risks

1) Financing Buildouts Without Dilution

ISPs often incinerate equity even while growing. Andrena should emphasize non‑equity financing: pass‑through property‑manager contracts, revenue‑ or equipment‑secured debt, and token SPVs for DeWi hardware.

2) Telco Fixed‑Wireless Competition

Telcos can bundle home internet to improve mobile retention, but reality is more nuanced. Andrena charges ~half of telco prices while maintaining healthy margins; mid‑band spectrum constraints and self‑imposed capacity caps limit telco fixed‑wireless scalability; and the market is large enough for multiple winners (125M+ US households).

• Starry capital needs
• Verizon home internet
• T‑Mobile FWA limits

3) Scaling Regional → National

Expansion requires partnerships with datacenter/fiber providers, multifamily property density, installation teams, and local brand building. Complexity grows non‑linearly with markets, but the team has clear levers and will focus on building a footprint of valuable wireless networks.

Get a PDF version of the original investment memo:

Andrena — Series A (Oct ’22) by Escape Velocity

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