BOULDER, Colo., April 7, 2005 – Picolight, Inc., a leading designer and manufacturer of optical transceivers and components, announced today that it has raised $13 million in its latest funding round. Coral Capital Management led the round by joining previous investors BA Venture Partners and Vesbridge Partners to complete the new financing. The company is looking to close another $4 million to $7 million in funding during the second quarter of 2005 for various product expansion activities.
Picolight raised $90 million in prior capital, with the most recent round raised at a significant increase in valuation from the prior round.Picolight’s revenue has increased more than 125 percent from the first quarter 2004 to first quarter 2005, fueled by increasing demand in Internet protocol (IP)-driven applications, including 10G Ethernet and parallel-optics markets.
“This funding round validates the tremendous progress we made through the second half of 2004 and into the first quarter of 2005, and will help us commence volume shipments of 1310nm VCSEL-based products while building on our early lead in this rapidly emerging market for better-performing, more-economical enterprise, storage area and metro network interconnect technology,” said Steve Hane, Picolight’s president and chief executive officer. “The combination of this capital commitment, steadily improving market conditions, and with our growing customer traction across multiple product lines positions us to execute the focused growth plan we put into place during the second half of 2004. Our goal is to achieve profitability by the end of 2005.”
“Picolight has maintained significant advantages in terms of new and existing 850nm VCSEL based products, ownership of the key sub-components, a strong patent portfolio on VCSEL technology, and 1310nm VCSEL technology leadership in both enterprise, storage area and metro area networks,” said Todd Ortberg, managing director, Coral Capital Management, who joins Picolight’s board of directors as a result of the investment. “Picolight has demonstrated very strong momentum in the last year, focusing in particular in high growth sectors such as 10Gb/s interface products for the state-of-the-art core routers, switches, and storage area networking systems. Also the company’s VCSEL product and intellectual property portfolio is particularly exciting, and gives the company the unique ability to provide high quality 850nm and 1310nm VCSEL products for both the short-reach and long-reach data communications applications in enterprise, storage area and metro area networks.”
“The wired communications market for optical components returned to welcome growth in 2004, driven by increased carrier spending on next-generation networking equipment and the continued investments by enterprises in optical technologies for networked storage and data communications applications,” said Jagdish Rebello, Ph.D., industry analyst with market research firm iSuppli Corporation. “Looking ahead to 2005 and beyond, the growth in the optical communications market will continue at a double-digit rate, and Picolight is well-positioned to take advantage of these expanding market opportunities.”
About Picolight Inc.
Picolight Inc., headquartered in Boulder, Colo., is an innovative designer and manufacturer of optical components and vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL)-based optical transceivers for high-bandwidth optical systems in rapidly growing data center, enterprise, storage area, and metro networking markets. The company’s mission is to leverage its breakthrough VCSEL technology, vertically integrated manufacturing strategy, and a market-focused culture to drive next generation optical interconnects fordatacom applications. The company is dedicated to targeted product innovations in key growth markets that will fuel business expansion and profitability. Picolight is a rapidly growing, venture-funded company in a fast-paced optical transceiver and components market. For more information, see www.picolight.com or email sales@picolight.com.
About Coral Capital Management
Coral Capital Management is headquartered in Minneapolis with a presence in Silicon Valley, Denver, and Atlanta. The firm invests in companies throughout the United States and in select locations internationally. Investments are focused on technology driven companies with substantial intrinsic momentum led by strong management teams, with early demand indicators, such as accelerating revenues, increasing product or service utilization, and a growing customer base.
About BA Venture Partners (Bank of America)
BA Venture Partners invests in software, hardware, biotechnology and medical devices. Bank of America is BA Ventures sole limited partner. Rory O' Driscoll, BAVP Managing Director, serves as a Director on Picolight's board. For more information see www.baventurepartners.com.
About Vesbridge Partners
Vesbridge Partners thrives on helping early-stage leading edge networking and IT infrastructure companies bring their software and service platforms to enterprise and carrier markets. Vesbridge Partners, headquartered in Boston, MA, has a long history as part of St. Paul Venture Capital (SPVC). SPVC is a well-established early-stage venture capital firms with a strong track record over the past 15 years of helping finance some of the industry's most successful technology companies. Bill Cadogan, Vesbridge's Senior Managing Director and Picolight Chairman, serves as a Director on Picolight's board. For more information, see www.vesbridge.com.
Editorial Contacts:
| Vidya Sharma Picolight Inc. 303-527-7448 vidya.sharma@picolight.com |
Kelly Poffenberger Weber Shandwick Worldwide 949-428-3868 kpoffenberger@webershandwick.com |
