Bain Capital, a global private investment firm, and Tillman Global Holdings, a private holding and investment firm building digital and energy infrastructure, have announced a US$ 1.5 billion investment in Tillman affiliate Eaton Fiber, funding the expansion of Verizon’s fiber network and Eaton Fiber’s proposed acquisition of Ripple Fiber.
This acquisition is said to be the first step in Eaton Fiber’s buy-and-build strategy which aims to deliver Verizon broadband to over a million more locations. Ripple Fiber’s existing shareholders, Platform Investment Partners and KLT, will continue supporting the Eaton Fiber platform alongside Bain Capital and Tillman, according to a press release.
“This transaction marks an important milestone in the evolution of Eaton Fiber,” said Sachit Ahuja, Co-President of Tillman and Co-Founder of Eaton Fiber. “The acquisition of Ripple Fiber meaningfully strengthens Eaton Fiber’s relationship with Verizon, while the partnership and long-term capital from Bain Capital provide additional resources to accelerate its fiber deployment. Together, these steps position Eaton Fiber to further enhance its strong build momentum and expand its geographic reach.”
Verizon and Eaton Fiber signed a commercial agreement in October 2025. Under that agreement, Eaton Fiber would fund, build, maintain, and operate the fiber network with Verizon responsible for residential and small business retail, sales, marketing, and end-user customer service.
“Expanding the reach of Verizon fiber is central to our growth and convergence strategy, and this partnership gives us a highly capital-efficient model to extend Verizon’s award-winning fiber broadband experience to more customers outside of our core footprint. We are excited to welcome Ripple Fiber’s customers to Verizon and provide them with an outstanding customer experience from day one,” said Dan Schulman, Verizon Chief Executive Officer.
Head of North America Special Situations and Head of Corporate Special Situations in Europe at Bain Capital, Angelo Rufino said that wholesale fiber platforms, such as Eaton Fiber, have become the most capital-efficient way of addressing higher interest rates and tighter capital markets that constrain supply for standalone fiber-to-the-premise platforms.
“Eaton Fiber sits at the center of that opportunity, combining a proven build engine with a committed Tier 1 anchor partner in Verizon. We are excited to invest alongside Tillman and the Verizon teams to grow this platform and bring essential connectivity to markets with growing demand for fiber connectivity,” Rufino added.
Eaton Fiber’s acquisition of Ripple Fiber will see Verizon acquire Ripple Fiber existing customers over time once the deal is closed. Verizon will also acquire a small portion of Ripple Fiber’s network and related assets adjacent to or partially within Verizon’s North Carolina and South Carolina footprint.
The deal is expected to close before the end of 2026, subject to closing conditions. Eaton Fiber has secured committed debt financing in connection with the transaction from a syndicate led by Societe Generale and SMBC, alongside longstanding financing partner Future Standard Digital Infrastructure. Lazard is serving as lead financial advisor to Ripple Fiber.
“As a wholesale fiber network platform, we will do what we do best, working within communities to deliver state-of-the-art fiber connectivity at scale across the U.S. Through our acquisition by Eaton Fiber, we are well positioned, with our wealth of knowledge on operating wholesale networks, to accelerate our mission of connecting millions of homes and businesses to reliable, future-proof fiber for generations to come,” said Greg Wilson, Ripple Fiber Founder and CEO.
As demand for cloud computing, AI applications, and enhanced network capacity grows, so does demand for fiber optic networking. According to MarketsandMarkets, the US fiber optic market was valued at US$ 633.1 million in 2024 and is expected to grow to US$ 1.05 billion by 2029, outpacing other semiconductor segments.