Business: A spinoff of Ericisson Co., Metro-Optix provides optical networking equipment. It says its product, CityStream, eliminates the need for multiple boxes, provides efficient bandwidth utilization, supports legacy voice traffic and enables deployment of data-optimized services, allowing carriers to lower operations costs and reduce expenditures on power and real estate.
Headquarters: Santa Clara, Calif., and Allen, Texas.
Founded: 1999
VC raised to date: $136M
Capital raised one year ago: $50M
Investors: JPMorgan Partners, InterWest, Sevin Rosen, Centerpoint, BlueStream Ventures, J.W. Seligman, Van Wagoner Capital, Palantir Capital and Wasatch.
Plans one year ago: The company was looking for an additional $60 million but fell short. It planned to use the proceeds from the deal for research and development and to increase its sales, marketing and customer support staff by 25 employees, bringing its roster to 310 by year-end. Metro-Optix expected to generate revenue by Q3 2001 and be profitable by the second half of 2002. The company had no plans to raise another round of private equity.
Status: In October, Metro-Optix raised an additional $4 million, added it to its last round and released its second version of CityStream 5000. Additionally, the company laid off about one-third of its employees and shifted its focus from large telecoms to smaller companies. Metro-Optix now hopes to be profitable by the second half of 2003.
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