AUGUST 21, 2006 -- Opto-electronic components and subsystems provider Covega Corp. (Search for Covega Corp.) has raised $10 million in expansion financing. Core Capital Partners, Intersouth Partners, and Optical Capital Group/HRLD were the lead investors in this round, which also included Siemens Venture Capital and Square One Bank. Covega has raised $30 million since its inception in February 2003 and will use this latest round to fund working capital growth, expansion of manufacturing capacities, and acceleration of the product roadmap for new tunable optical components.
"Demand for our industry-leading gain chips and small form factor modulators for tunable lasers and transponders has dramatically increased to record volumes over the last year," reports Joe Dixon, CEO of Covega. "This has helped our business to grow over 25% quarter-over-quarter at more than twice the industry average. This recent infusion of capital will enable us to scale our operations to match the growth in the marketplace," he adds.
Covega says that one of its major drivers has been "wavelength tunability," which reduces network capital and operating costs and enables the deployment of agile networks. Products such as Covega's gain chips allow tunable laser and transponder providers to launch light further and tune over a significantly greater bandwidth than competing solutions, claims the company. This lowers their overall costs by minimizing the need for expensive optical signal regeneration or amplification. It also enables carrier customers to tune these products to any specific wavelength "in the field" by using a single component.
"Covega's products now sell either directly or indirectly into eight of the 11 leading systems integrators and original equipment manufacturers," notes Pascal Luck, managing director of Core Capital Partners. "We are very excited to play a role in the company's growth as it continues to attract and support new customers."