Internet Photonics Lands $31M

SHREWSBURY, N.J. and MARLBOROUGH, Mass. -- Internet Photonics Inc. today announced it has closed its third round of venture financing for $31M with new investors ComVentures, which led the round; TeleSoft Partners; and previous investors Sprout Group and New Venture Partners LLC. As a result of the financing, Cliff Higgerson, general partner and co-founder of ComVentures, will join Internet Photonics’ Board of Directors.To date, Internet Photonics has raised $63M since its inception in October of 2000. The new funding will be used for increased sales, marketing and customer support activities, as the company expands its domestic and global market presence and gears up for projected near-term customer shipments of its unique solutions for the service provider and cable operator markets. Internet Photonics expects to become cash flow positive in 2003.“The fact that this round was substantially oversubscribed with both new and existing investors is a strong validation of our value proposition by prospective customers and of our business plan by the investment community,” said Gregory Koss, President and CEO of Internet Photonics. “We are very pleased to have attracted such strong new investors as ComVentures and TeleSoft in a difficult fund-raising environment.”Internet Photonics is the first to deliver end-to-end managed Optical Ethernet transport solutions with carrier-grade SONET-like Operations, Administration, Management and Provisioning (OAM&P). These solutions allow established carriers to overcome current capital constraints and overcome regulatory barriers while deploying profitable, managed Optical Ethernet private line and access services for enterprise customers.Internet Photonics Inc.