Meter just raised $170 million at a valuation of north of $1 billion. The series C funding round was led by General Catalyst, and will cause some ripples through the VC world.

Here’s a breakdown of why this matters and how it might impact different people, from Founders to Investors.

For founders:

1. Full-stack is back—and it wins.
   Meter didn’t just build software—they built hardware, firmware, software, deployment, and support from scratch. It’s a bold, expensive move, but it allows them to own the full customer experience and unlock deep defensibility.

2. Infrastructure as a service is the new frontier.
   Just like AWS abstracted servers, Meter is abstracting network deployment and management. Founders should ask: what other traditionally complex systems could be turned into a seamless, plug-and-play service?

3. Build for inevitable trends, not hype.
   The bet behind Meter is simple but powerful: the world’s dependence on fast, reliable internet will only grow. If you’re building a startup, consider focusing on what the world can’t function without—and where expectations are rising faster than legacy solutions can deliver.

For Investors and finance heads:

1. Infrastructure is where the smart money’s going.
   Meter isn’t an AI company or a social app—it’s tackling the internet’s invisible backbone: enterprise networking. This round shows that serious investors believe “boring” infrastructure is the next big opportunity.

2. Elite investor lineup = long-term conviction.
   This isn’t just General Catalyst. You’ve got Microsoft, JPMorgan, Sequoia, Baillie Gifford, plus early believers like Sam Altman, the Collison brothers, Reid Hoffman, and Tobi Lütke. That signals confidence not only in Meter’s tech, but in its business model, scalability, and necessity.

3. Networking-as-a-service = SaaS-style margins, infra-sized TAM.
   Meter combines the predictable revenue of SaaS with the mission-critical role of infrastructure, making it a compelling long-term compounding business. Investors betting on this model are essentially betting that internet reliance and hybrid work will keep scaling.