March 05, 2008
Virtual PBX Ring Central Closes $12M Round
A buddy today asked us what percentage of tech startups are hot. Maybe 20% was our answer. We'd count RingCentral in that 20%. Redwood City-based RingCentral has closed a $12M series B financing led by DAG Ventures with return investors Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures. Last September, the company closed a series A funding round of $12M from Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures.
Count us among those that are fans-as-users of Ring Central. The company says that it has locked down its 50 thousandth client. That actually seems like a small number to us given how stupid and expensive it is to hook up a traditional PBX for your company. The only thing that we see as holding back RingCentral's growth is that companies don't need to make new decisions about their PBX often. It's mostly startups that need to look into it. Moreover, you may not now that Ring Central or its virtual PBX competitors exist. But once you have looked at Ring Central vs. the old school PBX offers you'd have to be a dolt to go back in time.
In the virtual PBX market, Ring Central competes with 8x8 and M5 Networks among others. Publicly traded 8x8 had revenue of nearly $60M in 2007 and reported a profit in the December quarter. RingCentral, meanwhile, says it had revenue above $10M in 2007.
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December 27, 2007
Metro Ethernet's ANDA Files IPO
Ethernet access equipment's ANDA Networks has filed Nasdaq IPO plans to raise $86.25M.
ANDA may be stung by concerns that its sales are too dependent on a couple of key customers. In the nine months to September 30, 2007, Verizon, XO Communications, and MTS Allstream generated 87% of ANDA's revenues, which totaled $19.4M. Verizon accounting for a 71%.
Sunnyvale, CA-based ANDA has raised approximately $100M from Wu-Fu Chen, Venrock Associates, InveStar Capital, Highland Capital Partners, ADC Telecom, Crimson Ventures, Saints Venture, Amerindo Investment Advisors and Franklin Templeton. Most recently in June 2006, ANDA Networks closed an additional $10.5M round.
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November 06, 2007
Telecom Transport Says Just Put The Money In The Bag. Raises $120M For Backhaul.
Seattle's Telecom Transport Management closed Series D equity at $120M led by new investors Columbia Capital and Battery Ventures. Telecom Transport had raised $72M in four earlier rounds.
The firm needs the funds to continue to build out its TDM and Ethernet backhaul networks for wireless carriers in Minneapolis and suburban. It currently provides its services in Richmond and Norfolk, VA, with the company claiming three of the top four U.S. wireless carriers as customers. Philadelphia, as well as two other U.S. markets that have yet to be identified.
You see a lot of drawings like this in the backhaul biz
Telecom Transport was founded by execs from McCaw Cellular in 2003. Their idea was to attach microwave fiber equipment to cellular towers so that carriers can transport phone calls or other wireless data to a central switching station. That has been done primarily by the local phone company through leased T-1 lines.
Telecom Transport competes with the likes of FiberTower, a public company that is providing back-haul services in 7 of Sprint Nextel's initial WiMax markets. However, there is so much backhaul work to be done in the US that these guys can pick markets for without bumping into each other for years to come.
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Telecom Transport Management Closes Series D Equity Funding Totaling $120 Million
Tuesday November 6, 9:15 am ET
Company Expanding Wireless Backhaul Networks for Major Carriers in Midwest and East Coast
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Telecom Transport Management Inc. (TTM), a provider of advanced voice and data transport backhaul solutions for wireless carriers, today announced the close of a Series D equity funding package totaling $120 million. The transaction, led by new investors Columbia Capital and Battery Ventures, brings an immediate infusion of $55 million into the company and provides a follow on opportunity for the investors to purchase an additional $65 million of equity. TTM will use the funds to continue to build out its TDM and Ethernet backhaul networks for wireless carriers in the US.
“We are very pleased to have this group of highly respected, experienced investors join the ownership group. This funding provides us with the means to more rapidly deploy our backhaul solutions and help our carrier customers solve this critical need,” said Mark Hamilton, President and CEO of TTM. “I am particularly thankful to our initial shareholders and to my teammates at TTM, whose hard work and dedication have brought the company to this point. This is a very exciting time in the industry; one that is critical to the promise of bringing advanced data applications, including video, to wireless customers across the country.”
“TTM saw a need for cost-effective backhaul alternatives for wireless carriers who are investing billions of dollars to expand the capabilities of their networks in the US,” said Jay Markley of Columbia Capital. “TTM boasts one of the strongest executive teams in the wireless industry, with founders who have tremendous experience in wireless industry technology, business development and sales.”
Along with Columbia Capital and Battery Ventures, the new investors in the round included DCM and Highside Capital Management. They join current investors SeaPoint Ventures, Ignition Partners, Trilogy Equity Partners and Rally Capital, LLC all of which participated in the Series D round as well. TTM has raised $72 million through four rounds of funding to date.
“As a result of their decades of experience in the wireless industry, the executive team and board of directors have strong connections to and understanding about U.S. wireless carriers,” said Steve Hooper, TTM board chairman and partner with Ignition Partners. “We are very pleased with the progress Mark Hamilton and his team have made in this important industry. It’s clear that TTM is well positioned to provide solutions for wireless carriers’ future backhaul needs.”
Jay Markley of Columbia Capital, Matt Niehaus from Battery Ventures, and Andrew Sinwell from Highside Capital Management will join Hooper, Hamilton and current directors Don Guthrie from Trilogy Partners and Dennis Weibling from Rally Capital on TTM’s board.
About Telecom Transport Management:
Telecom Transport Management offers wireless carriers a comprehensive, best-in-class solution that is more cost-effective, reliable, flexible and manageable than current transport solutions in the industry. Transport networks are critical links for wireless communications and the growth in demand for wireless voice and advanced data services are driving the need for increased transport bandwidth and quality of service. TTM currently provides service to three of the four largest wireless carriers and will, in the next several months, expand its service into four new states. TTM’s executive team includes veterans from a host of innovative wireless and broadband companies. Investors include SeaPoint Ventures, Ignition Partners, Rally Capital, Trilogy Equity Partners, Columbia Capital, Battery Ventures, DCM, and Highside Capital Management.
Contact:
OnPR for TTM
Jeff Fishburn, 503-802-4408
jefff@onpr.com
Posted at 12:32 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
August 30, 2007
VCs Park $225M With Fiber Co. Zayo
Fiber services rollup play Zayo Bandwidth has officially launched and announced that it has raised $225M from investors. The company completed two recent acquisitions: PPL Telcom, which boasts of a 4,600 mile fiber network. That company is based in Allentown, PA and targets the Northeast. Zayo also bought Memphis Networx, a 200 fiber-route-mile network. And Zayo says it has signed definitive agreements to acquire Indianapolis, IN-based Indiana Fiber Works (IFW) and Minneapolis, MN- based Onvoy. Combined, Zayo says the four companies represent $125M of annual revenue and 8,400 route miles of fiber.
The idea behind Zayo is that while New York and Chicago enterprises have plenty of fiber, places like Memphis don't. So Zayo is buying up smaller networks that serve those tier 2 and tier 3 cities. Companies in these cities will be able to buy from Zayo: private line services, Ethernet point-to-point and multipoint from 10 Mb/s to 1 Gb/s, dedicated T-1 Internet access, wavelength services at 2.5 Gb/s and 10 Gb/s and carrier-grade collocation services for backup and data applications.
In addition to the cash that Zayo brings to the rollup, it has a couple of gray hairs in charge: Dan Caruso and John Scarano, both formerly with ICG Communications (Caruso was CEO) and Level 3 Communications.They raised the $225M first round from Columbia Capital, M/C Venture Partners, Oak Investment Partners, Battery Ventures and Centennial Ventures.
Read - announcement
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April 09, 2007
Applied Optoelectronics Raises $28M
Sugar Land TX' Applied Optoelectronics (AOI) has raised $28M in E-series. This latest round brings total capital raised to $68.9M. The company specializes in lasers and optical components for cable, telecom, datacom, and FTTx applications. It has been benefiting, in particular, from the fiber to the home movement.
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March 12, 2007
Casabi Funded To Give You Smart Phone Functions On Your Home Line
The a:c home phones are painfully stupid compared to our fancy cell phones. They have speed dial and that's about it. Comparing notes with our pals, we found most everyone's home phones are stupid. If we had it, Casabi would hook up to our Internet connection and grab weather reports and other functionality. Casabi will partner with telcos to deliver the functions but to date there are no partners announced.
Casabi has raised $10M in a second round led by Canaan Partners with previous investors Mayfield Fund and Vanguard Ventures, reports VentureBeat. Casabi's board also replaced Casabi's CEO recently.
Casabi's UI is kind of 1970's but it would be nice to have.
Posted at 08:07 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
February 26, 2007
JDSU Pays $115M for Optical Components PicoLight
Louisville, CO-based Picolight has been acquired by JDSU for $115M in stock plus $10M in cash. Picolight makes optical pluggable transceivers based on VCSEL technology. That sounds great, however, Picolight has raised around $140M in total VC funding since its 1996 inception,
Picolight is backed by Charles River Ventures, Coral Capital Management, Investor Growth Capital Ltd., ORIX Venture Finance, Scale Ventures, and Vesbridge Partners. Picolight raised $12M in Series C last July.
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February 07, 2007
Intel Invests In $7M Round For Open Source PBX Fonality
We can't wait to see the costs of PBXs come down. We have come across several start-ups working this territory Fonality, which sells a low cost office phone system based on open-source software, has raised $7M in new funding led by Intel Ventures. This brings the total raised to $12.5M.
Los Angeles-based Fonality is based on an open-source software platform called Asterisk, which was itself built on Linux.
The price ranges from $1K to $3K for a server and software, depending on the features and number of users the system needs to serve. Fonality says is it now has more than 1,600 businesses in 25 countries with 40,000 individual users. Fonality also says its revenue is growing 10 percent from month to month, but the Los Angeles-based company declined to provide specific dollar amounts.
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Posted at 10:24 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
January 10, 2006
French Firm Rings Up E16M Euros For IP Telephony Wholesale
Neteco reports that B3G Telecom, a wholesaler of IP telephony services, has raised 16M Euros from AXA Private Equity and Partech International to invest in the development of its two markets, telcos and resellers of voice services to the enterprise market. Azurtel SAS, the company behind the brand name B3G Telecom, was founded in Paris in 2001 and had sales of about Euro 60 million last year. It had been profitable back in 2002 and 2003, according to its website. B3G operates in France, Italy, and five other countries... lots of plum jobs on offer too.
Read - AXA et Partech investissent 16 M€ dans B3G Telecom (Neteco - In French)
Posted at 12:58 PM | TrackBack | Permalink
October 28, 2005
Calix In a Dead Sprint
We profiled Petaluma's Calix earlier in the year, indicating the company did $100M in revenues in 2004. Today, the company announced that it had closed its biggest deal yet - with Sprint. We keep hearing from telecom analysts how much the industry is hurting - no IPOs for ages. But Calix for one is showing there are still plenty of Benjamins to be had.
Read - Calix to sell broadband equipment to Sprint Nextel
Read - Calix Profile (The a:c)
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