Colubris Networks announced today that it has secured $15 million — its third institutional round of funding — bringing the total investment in the wireless local area networking (WLAN) systems company to $36 million. This investment represents a significant increase in valuation for Colubris and will be used to expand the company’s global sales channels and development activities in the Enterprise WLAN market.
New investors DCM – Doll Capital Management and the Telecommunications Development Fund participated in the round. DCM led the oversubscribed round which also included existing investors: Prism Venture Partners, Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds and GrandBanks Capital and The Business Development Bank of Canada. Dixon Doll, founder and managing general partner, DCM was appointed to Colubris’ board of directors.
“Colubris is one of the most capital efficient and disciplined companies I have ever involved myself with. They have maintained 4X sales growth year-over-year while managing a focused and efficient organization,” said Doll, one of America’s most experienced telecom venture investors. “Colubris leveraged its leadership position behind Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the WLAN carrier market to expand into the Enterprise space. I’ve been impressed with their customer wins in the Education, Retail, Hospitality and Transportation segments. With continued focus and more resources targeted for channel sales, Colubris’ can compete and succeed against anyone in the market.”
Colubris has over 1,000 customers and 60,000 WLAN devices deployed worldwide. The company holds top market share positions in the WLAN Carrier, Hospitality, Transportation and Retail segments. According to IDC, the worldwide WLAN Carrier and Enterprise Infrastructure market will grow on average by 17% annually to $2 billion by 2008.
“Market separation has occurred among WLAN vendors, with only three system vendors out of the hundreds of millions of venture capital investment experiencing breakout years in 2004. Colubris is one of these three companies,” said Barry Fougere, president and CEO, Colubris Networks. “With this new financing and investor support, Colubris is well-positioned to extend its areas of segment leadership into broader market leadership. This round of financing significantly exceeds the needs of Colubris to achieve profitability. At that point, a number of financial and business options open themselves up to the company.”
About Colubris Networks
Colubris Networks manufactures and sells an award-winning WLAN product family to service providers and enterprises worldwide. Its WLAN System enables superior customer flexibility and control in the secure delivery of voice, data, and multimedia Wi-Fi applications and services to mobile workers, customers, partners, suppliers and guests. Colubris Networks’ equipment is deployed by more than 1,000 organizations worldwide. www.colubris.com
