Mintera secures $18.5M Series B financing

April 12, 2005 Lowell, MA -- Mintera today announced an $18.5 million Series B round of venture capital financing, co-led by new investors Polaris Venture Partners and RRE Ventures. Existing investors also participating in the round included Court Square Ventures, Star Ventures, and Portview Communications Partners. The company also announced that Bob Metcalfe, general partner at Polaris Ventures, and Rich McGinn, general partner at RRE Ventures, will join Mintera's board of directors.

The company, which develops and sells 40-Gbit/sec fiber-optic transport subsystems for metro, regional, long-haul, and ultra long-haul optical networks, plans to use the financing to expand sales, marketing, and customer support activities, and to continue product development.

The company says it continues to gain customer traction since demonstrating its ultra long-haul optical transport connection in June 2004 in a trial with MCI and Ciena. Recent successes, according to the company, have included a live traffic trial of the connection on the Cernet network in China, and a partnership with Mahi Networks, announced in February 2005.

"The industry is experiencing a renewed interest in the economic benefits of 40-Gbit/sec transport, as exemplified by recent activity in the carrier and enterprise segments," affirms McGinn. "Bob and I believe the market is ready for Mintera's proven solution, and are pleased to support the company's value proposition."

"Bandwidth-intensive multimedia applications continue to push the limits of existing networks," adds Mintera's CEO, Terry Unter. "Mintera's proven solution offers an evolution to optical transport at higher bit rates without the need to upgrade or replace the fibers and optical amplifiers already installed for the older 2.5 and 10 Gbit/sec systems."