Finnish KNL Networks raises $10 million Series A investment from Creandum and existing seed investors Inventure and Butterfly Ventures.

KNL Networks, an Oulu, Finland-based provider of a secure data communication platform, raised $10m in Series A funding.

The money comes from Creandum, existing seed investors Inventure and Butterfly Ventures, and prominent angels including John Lindfors from DST Global, Juha Hulkko, Founder and major owner of Bittium (formerly Elektrobit); the Tamares Group led by Poju Zabludowicz.

KNL intends to use the funds to expand operations globally.

KNL had already raised two million euros from Inventure and Butterfly Ventures in August 2014.

KNL Networks, founded as Kyynel Ltd and led by CEO Toni Lindén, provides a communication system – CNHF radio system (which stands for Cognitive Networked HF) – that relies on short wave radio transmissions capable of providing IP-based communications, allowing data to be transmitted over thousands of kilometers, whether in the middle of an ocean or in a remote location in Africa, Asia or South America.

Applications include ships sailing the seas, oil and gas fields on remote locations, and research activities on the South Pole, which require reliable and secure long-range communications.

KNL Networks is the only alternative to satellite communications and is currently in-use on ocean fleets traversing both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Compared to satellite communication, the advantage of KNL is that it has no expensive satellites to maintain or operate. The technology offers broader network coverage enabled by long-range high frequency channels operating at a fraction of the cost of satellite networks. KNL provides extremely secure and reliable communication that is globally available, easier to use than satellite and always-on.

KNL Networks is based in Oulu, Finland, with additional offices are located in Helsinki, the UK and Norway.