Sydney broadband network analytics firm Canopus Networks, which helps telecommunications providers deliver lag-free, low-latency gaming, has raised a further $3 million (AU$4.5 million) in its Series A to bring the round’s total value to $10, 6 million (A$15.7 million).

The final round was led by US VC Convoy Ventures, a gaming industry-focused investor. Managing Partner Jackson Vaughan will join the board as an observer.

Canopus Networks, which has now raised a total of A$18.4 million and will use the new capital to expand into new markets and develop further gaming-specific products. R. This investment closes Canopus’

Canopus Networks was founded in 2018 by CEO prof. Vijay Shivaraman and CFO Himalaya Kumar to create an affordable network visibility management solution powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and programmable switch technology (P4). It grew out of research from the University of New South Wales that pioneered the use of programmable network techniques for traffic classification and application experience measurement.

Headquartered in Sydney, the startup also has staff in Melbourne, New Zealand, the US and the UK. Canopus’ analytics platform is now operational across several networks in Asia Pacific, the Americas, and the UK.

Sivaraman said “lag-free” low-latency gaming can only be delivered if ISPs can manage traffic effectively, allowing users to have a seamless experience no matter how much bandwidth applications require.

“Gaming is a growing but technically challenging market that is well suited to the solutions Canopus Networks offers,” he said.

“Konvoy’s investment enables us to support enhanced user experiences in the gaming space.”

The software gives telecommunication service providers full and continuous visibility into gaming, streaming, conferencing, application usage and user experience across their fixed and mobile 5G networks. Sivaraman said increased visibility means telecommunications providers can make targeted investments to optimize their infrastructure to improve efficiency, improve user experience and increase return on investment.

“This solution streamlines operations to improve customer support and retention, reduce churn costs and gain behavioral intelligence to increase customer lifetime value,” he said.

“This creates new revenue-generating offerings for cloud gaming and enterprise applications.”

The AI-based network traffic analytics software can accurately measure the quality of experience for application flows in real time, at Terabit speeds, independent of data encryption.

Konvoy’s Jackson Vaughan said they are excited to support Canopus as it helps the gaming industry understand online data flows.

“Canopus Networks is built on technical academic research in software-defined networking, AI and internet infrastructure, all of which are hugely important to the gaming industry,” he said.