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Onetta Secures $56 Million in Funding with Leading Technology Investors
SAN JOSE, Calif. — 26 February 2001 — Onetta, Inc., an emerging leader in the optical networking industry, announced today it has secured $56 million in Series B financing.HarbourVest Partners led the financing round, with additional investments from Sumitomo Corporation, JP Morgan H&Q, J.&W. Seligman and Series A investors, Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners. Onetta will use the funding to expand production capacity of high-end intelligent optical amplifiers and next-generation intelligent optical engines.
"We are convinced Onetta has a huge opportunity to grow and prosper in this emerging optical networking market. Their cutting edge technology and delivery of next-generation intelligent optical engines makes them a very attractive investment partner for our firm," said Ofer Nemirovsky, HarbourVest Partners. HarbourVest, the lead investor in this round of funding, is a global private equity investment firm with extensive experience working with early-stage technology companies.
"We are pleased to be financed by a stellar group of investors," said Dennis Barsema, chairman and CEO, Onetta. "The Onetta management team in partnership with our investors have made a tremendous commitment to build the company for the long term and offer valuable products and services to our customers. This combination of solid financing and an extraordinary team of optical networking experts allow us to offer advanced solutions for the builders of next-generation optical networks. By delivering intelligence to the optical network through innovative technology, we have positioned Onetta as the forerunner in the intelligent optical engine market."
"Onetta is leading this new, emerging category of advanced subsystem vendors," said Charlie Willhoit, JP Morgan H&Q. "Between the deep roster of Ph.D.s and the exemplary management experience of senior staff, like Dennis Barsema, Onetta is poised to be a first-class player in the category. They have the people, the strategy and the economic model to be successful."
Onetta manufactures intelligent optical engines for leading optical networking equipment manufacturers (ONEMs) and service providers to create faster, more economical, and higher performing optical networks with greater manageability. The company offers customers highly differentiated products that span a wide range of optical technologies delivered by a world-class optical and control design team. By inventing breakthrough optical designs and dramatically compressing product design cycle time, Onetta provides both ONEMs and service providers a better return on their optical networking investment. These product advances allow for dynamic provisioning and protection, therefore guaranteeing greater service performance over optical networks.
"There is a need for next-generation intelligent optical engines for the long-haul and ultra long-haul markets across the globe," said Yasuyuki "Tex" Ave, President, Presidio Venture Partners LLC. "Onetta's products address the emerging demand in the next generation of optical networking technologies, primarily from the network service provider. Presidio is very pleased to be a player in this round of funding."
Presidio Venture Partners LLC is a venture capital firm, funded by Sumitomo Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation of America, with a focus on investments in information technology.