21 January 2004 Boulder, CO Lightwave -- Picolight closed a $10-million funding round Dec. 30, led by St. Paul Venture Capital and BA Venture Partners (Bank of America).
"This round strengthens our balance sheet and, together with the strong revenue growth we experienced in 2003, will allow us to achieve profitability by the middle of 2004," contends Stan Swirhun, CEO of Picolight. "We continue to see increasing customer acceptance of our transceiver and laser sub-component products."
"Picolight is uniquely positioned in the fiber-optic transceiver space with new and existing products, ownership of the key sub-components, a strong patent portfolio and leadership in 1310-nm vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) technology." Adds Bill Cadogan, St. Paul Venture Capital general partner. "The company has the first commercially available 1310-nm VCSEL, which will redefine and dominate access networks in the same way 850-nm VCSELs dominate enterprise networks."
"Picolight is an established, growing player in the enterprise and storage markets with significant customer and product traction and more thanI$50 million in cumulative sales," reports Rory O'Driscoll, managing director of BA Venture Partners. "In the tough market of the last two years, the company increased key customer engagements, introduced leadership 10-Gigabit Ethernet and 4-Gigabit Fibre Channel products, and established solid off-shore production capability. We are enthusiastic about the company's prospects."