New capital accelerates Sail’s expansion in California to provide fiber-sourced internet choice to consumers and businesses
PALO ALTO, CA & NEW YORK, NY--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Sail Internet, Inc. (“Sail”), a rapidly-growing, high-speed internet provider leveraging fiber and next-generation wireless infrastructure to serve homes and businesses, today announced a new investment from affiliates of Newlight Partners LP (“Newlight”), a private investment firm. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 2015 by broadband industry veterans Kevin Fisher and George Ginis, Sail provides single family homes, multifamily buildings and businesses across the San Francisco Bay Area with high-speed, contract-free, fiber-sourced internet service at an affordable price. Developing solutions to cover the “last mile,” Sail connects homes and businesses to fiber infrastructure, connecting the unconnected and expanding and improving access for consumers frustrated by legacy internet service providers (ISPs).
“We started Sail Internet because we were fed up with the slow, unreliable, expensive broadband service offered by the large incumbents. This is the next step in Sail’s evolution as we seek to fulfill our mission to deliver quality, high-speed, next-gen internet designed to meet consumers’ and businesses’ needs today and into the future,” said Kevin Fisher, Sail’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are thrilled to leverage Newlight’s sector expertise as we accelerate our expansion efforts and continue to execute on our strategic growth plans.”
“The resources required to meet the evolving needs of our customers, more of whom are working from home than ever before, are expanding rapidly,” said George Ginis, Sail’s Head of Technology. “Newlight’s investment will enable Sail to continue to innovate, build our network throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, and provide greater choice and best-in-class service.”
“In just a short period of time, Sail has built an innovative high-speed broadband network from the ground up, raised the bar for ISP customer service, taken market share from more established providers, and is poised for growth,” said Joshua Ho-Walker, Managing Director at Newlight. “We are excited to partner with the talented team at Sail to accelerate the company’s development, capture growth opportunities and build the business through both organic initiatives and strategic acquisitions.”
Sail’s existing investors, including Ulu Ventures, Engineering Capital and Better Ventures, are maintaining their stakes in the business.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as legal advisor to Newlight. Latham & Watkins served as legal advisor to Sail.
About Sail Internet
Sail Internet creates choice in high-speed internet where the big names dominate and brings service where competitors don’t. With fiber at the core of everything it does, Sail delivers high-speed internet to single family homes, multifamily buildings and businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sail has no data caps for customer use and is net neutral.
Founded in 2015 by experts and innovators from the internet access industry, Sail is led by Kevin Fisher, PhD, Stanford University, former Engineering VP at 2Wire and Ikanos and George Ginis, PhD, Stanford University, former Engineering and Marketing VP at ASSIA. For more information, please visit www.sailinternet.com.
About Newlight Partners LP
Newlight Partners LP is a private investment firm focused on building businesses with long-term growth potential in partnership with founders and exceptional management teams. For more than 15 years, the Newlight team has helped build successful enterprises in five sectors, including telecommunications, financial services, power & infrastructure, healthcare and business services. Led by David Wassong and Ravi Yadav, the Newlight team has invested approximately $6 billion in over 100 investments since 2005, first as the Strategic Investments Group at Soros Fund Management LLC (Soros), and now as Newlight after the team's spin out from Soros in 2018. Newlight has approximately $4 billion in capital commitments and assets under management.
Media Contacts:
For Newlight Partners: Jonathan Gasthalter/Nathaniel Garnick Gasthalter & Co. (212) 257-4170
For Sail: Liz Pires lizpires@sailinternet.com (844) 438-8484 x732