The company, founded in December 2001, said the first-round financing will be used to bring its key product to market, boost sales and marketing and ensure it has the resources in place to meet market demand.

From its inception, TenXc sustained itself with about US$2.5 million in early stage seed financing from BDC Venture Capital and Venture Coaches. The company was also the first local firm to receive financing from the Accelerator Investment Program offered by Communications and Information Technology Ontario in September 2003 to the tune of $100,000.

The latest financing was co-led by VenGrowth Capital Partners and U.S. firm JK&B Capital, and included new investments from Venture Coaches/Skypoint Capital and BDC.

TenXc specializes in radio frequency (RF) technology. Its products help wireless service providers make the most of their costly blocks of spectrum to accommodate more paying subscribers and provide more reliable service. Callers are left with less static that either interrupts their calls or cuts them off altogether.

"It may not seem like a big deal, but when you have to spend $3 to $5 billion to purchase spectrum in the United States, and you can improve the efficiency of spectrum, let's say, two to three times, what that allows you to do is put twice the amount of voice traffic on your network ... getting more bang for buck in terms of what you've already invested in spectrum," Joseph Hickey told the OBJ recently after the company formally announced his appointment to the CEO's chair.

At this point, company management remains reluctant to offer firm revenue or profitability targets.

"Our investment in TenXc Wireless underscores what we look for in a company; strong customer engagement, good management of the business, engineering depth, and a compelling product direction that evolves with market needs," Ali Shadman, partner with JK&B Capital, said in a statement. "The team's proven experience delivering commercial products and focused go-to-market strategy positions TenXc for market leadership."

Mr. Hickey is a seasoned telecom veteran who climbed through the ranks at Nortel Networks in the 1990s. Even though TenXc only formally announced last month Mr. Hickey's appointment as CEO, he as been in town working with the company for most of the past year.

TenXc continued to bulk up its management ranks on Thursday, announcing the appointment of a new VP of engineering.

Graham Belcher comes to the company with 30 years of wireless industry experience. His resume includes engineering positions with Lucent Technologies, AT&T and Bell Laboratories.