August 9, 2007
Allen, Texas - (Aug 9, 2007) – Xtera Communications announced today that it has closed on a $52 million private placement from a consortium of private investors and venture capital firms. The private placement was co-lead by existing investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and ARCH Venture Partners and by new investor Wellcome Trust of London. Wellcome Trust also co-lead and took down approximately 50% of the offering.
Xtera Communications is a privately held optical networking and services company. The company provides network solutions that enable communications companies to profitably deliver high-bandwidth tailored services at the lowest sustainable cost per bit. Over the last year the company has expanded both its customer base and its product portfolio. The company has successfully deployed its performance enhancing all-Raman technology throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia, South America and North America. It recently announced the introduction of the world's first ultra-scalable line system to minimize network start-up costs without sacrificing the ultimate capacity of the network.
"Xtera Communications has exhibited strong financial results while incrementally growing the company. The latest private placement is not about funding current operations rather will be focused on strategic growth. We are extremely pleased that the Wellcome Trust has joined our existing group of investors. The Wellcome Trust has a superior investment track record and will be of significant benefit to Xtera Communications as we grow the company," said Jon Hopper, Xtera Communications CEO.
Geoff Love, Head of Venture Capital Investments for the Wellcome Trust commented: "We rarely invest directly into companies, choosing instead to focus on investing as a limited partner in Venture Capital and Private Equity funds. However, Xtera Communications is a compelling investment opportunity combining excellent management, proven financial results, strong IP in a growth market, and multiple opportunities for strategic growth. We subsequently made the decision to invest directly into Xtera Communications."
The Wellcome Trust is an independent, private foundation dedicated to advancing medical sciences by supporting research and other scientific and educational activities. The fund includes an investment division that manages the Wellcome Trust's assets. This division is responsible for increasing the assets by investing in a diverse set of public and private funds, including equity financing to private companies. The trust is the world's second richest medical charity after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In its last financial statement, for the year ending September 30, 2006, the fund reported net assets of over £13.4 billion ($26.8 billion).
About Xtera Communications
Xtera Communications specializes in network infrastructure that delivers the highest capacity, reach and density. Our long-haul, Submarine, Metro and WAN technologies together with our deployment expertise drive customer success and long term value.
Xtera offers an extensive portfolio of Optical Transport solutions for long-haul, regional, metropolitan and sub-sea networks, and WAN Traffic Management solutions for both enterprise and telecom companies.
With deployments in four continents, Xtera’s Optical Transport portfolio helps service providers worldwide reach new markets via new deployments, and extends the life of their existing network assets with cost-effective upgrades. Xtera‘s innovative Traffic Management solutions offer customers the best price/performance in network optimization.
Xtera delivers compelling advantage to its customers by maximizing network capacity, reach and value.
For more information, please visit www.xtera.com