Overture Networks, an award-winning provider of networking equipment, has secured $12.3 million in venture financing.
The funds would be used to help Overture expand services and marketing in Europe.
Overture has raised more than $43 million in three rounds of financing. Among its backers is Intersouth Partners in Durham. Lehman Bros. Venture Partners led the new financing with $7 million.
“We are extremely delighted to have this strong vote of confidence in our position in the converged packet access space from an internationally recognized firm such as Lehman Brothers,” said Jeff Reedy, chief executive officer at Overture. “The rapid uptake of Carrier Ethernet services has validated our positioning and execution to date and we will now be able to expand our presence to take advantage of the momentum we have built.”
Overture landed $7.5 million in financing in June of 2006. The company was launched in 2000.
Its patented telecommunications technology increases bandwidth capabilities of traditional copper networks. Overture won an Internet Telephony magazine Excellence Award last fall for its ISG 180 product. It enables customers to offer incremental increases in bandwidth from 1.5 megabits to 16 megabits per second by bonding together standard T1 or E1 high-speed lines.
“We believe Overture Networks has enormous opportunity in the rapidly growing managed Carrier Ethernet space,” said Stewart Gollmer, a partner at Lehman Brothers Venture Partners. “Overture has clearly demonstrated its ability to execute and has repeatedly proven the incredible demand for service providers to intelligently deliver Carrier Ethernet to any location – at speeds ranging from 1 Mbps to 1 Gbps and beyond. We look forward to helping Overture Networks become the leading equipment provider in this space.”
