Investee Company – Proximion Fiber Optics AB (Sweden)
Investee Company Business Type – Supplier of optical components and subsystems for monitoring the performance of optical networks
Type of Financing – Second stage, expansion
Equity Providers – ADD Partners, Celtic House International Corp, InnovationsKapital
Equity Leader (Individual) – Paul Rodseth, ADD Partners
Debt Providers – N/A
Debt Type – N/A
Debt Leader (Individual) – N/A
Equity Amount – $10 million
Total Deal Value – $10 million
Other Advisors – Mannheimer Swartling
Comments – Swedish company Proximion Fiber Optics AB has attracted $10 million from UK-based ADD Partners, Canadian venture capital firm Celtic House and Swedish InnovationsKapital, who led the first round of funding. This latest round was co-led by ADD Partners and Celtic House.
The Kista-based company is looking to use the capital to increase the production of its first product, WISTOM, which combines both optical channel monitoring and optical performance monitoring onto a single platform. The fresh equity will also allow the company to expand its international sales network.
Focused on the supply of in-fiber-intelligence for safeguarding and enhancing the performance of optical networks, Proximion is looking to improve the overall performance of networks for system vendors.
Proximion is a spin-off from the research institute ACREO, previously the Institute of Optical Research. Founded in 1998, the company has offices in Sweden and the US and is looking to increase its number of employees from 50 to 60 by the end of 2001.
Raoul Stubbe, CEO of Proximion said: “With the scarcity of private funding for start-ups, we recognise the tremendous amount of trust and confidence our investors have in our management team and the potential of the company.”