PhotonEx raises $90 million in third round financing

Oct. 17, 2001
Oct. 17, 2001--PhotonEx Corp., a developer of 40 Gb/s and faster smart photonic systems for long haul and ultra long haul networks, announced it received an additional $90 million in equity financing from global investors.

PhotonEx Corp., a developer of 40 Gb/s and faster smart photonic systems for long haul and ultra long haul networks, announced it received an additional $90 million in equity financing from global investors. This third round of financing brings PhotonEx's cumulative financing to $178 million.

The Waltham, MA office of UK-based 3i led the Series C investment round with new equity participation from Axxon Capital LP, Boston Millennia Partners, Castile Ventures and JP Morgan Investment Management. All previous investors, including Matrix Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners, Oak Investment Partners, Essex Investment Management, Silicon Valley BancVentures LP, Intel Capital and the Photonics Fund, also participated in the round.

The investment round provides PhotonEx with the funds needed to continue executing on its timeline for development and customer-facing operations. The financing will support operations through late 2003, well into the company's planned revenue and sales ramp period. PhotonEx will use the infusion to drive commercialization of a deployable 40 Gb/s long haul transport technology through the expansion of its sales and support organizations and the appropriate scaling of its development and manufacturing operations.

Optimized to address service providers' top line and bottom line imperatives, PhotonEx's 40 Gb/s smart photonic systems dispense with the distance vs. capacity trade off. Combining pioneering optical subsystems and innovative system software, PhotonEx core optical systems maximize revenue through the efficient delivery of capacity and speed. PhotonEx systems also minimize capital and operational network costs by supporting high-capacity long-reach networks using fewer systems and wavelengths. Enabling 40 Gb/s services using current components on fiber further enables service providers to maximize their ROI.

With the completion of this round, Nelson Stacks of 3i has joined PhotonEx' board of directors. Listed on the London Stock Exchange and the FTSE100, 3i is an international venture capital firm investing in businesses across three continents through local investment teams in Europe, Asia Pacific and the USA. To date, 3i has invested over $US 19 billion (£13.5 billion), leveraging its worldwide presence to add value to its portfolio companies. At 3i, Mr. Stacks focuses on all aspects of the telecommunications industry.

About PhotonEx Corporation:

Founded in September 1999, PhotonEx Corp. develops 40 Gb/s network-wide smart photonic systems. For more information, visit www.photonex.com.

Sponsored Recommendations

On Topic: Metro Network Evolution

Dec. 6, 2024
The metro network continues to evolve. As service providers have built out fiber in metro areas, they have offered Ethernet-based data services to businesses and other providers...

Optical Transceivers in the Age of AI: Impacts, Challenges, and Opportunities

Jan. 13, 2025
Join our webinar to explore how AI is transforming optical transceivers, data center networking, and Nvidia's GPU-driven architectures, unlocking new possibilities in speed, performance...

Linear Pluggable Optics – The low-power optical interconnects for AI and Hyperscaled data centers.

Dec. 23, 2024
This LightWave webinar discussion will review the important technical differentiators found in this emerging interconnect field and how the electro/optic interoperability and ...

Innovating the network edge with 100ZR QSFP28: The next frontier in coherent optics

Jan. 15, 2025
In this webinar, Juniper Networks, EXFO and Precision Optical Technologies are teaming up to showcase the new 100ZR QSFP28 pluggable coherent technology, exploring its foundational...