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| Chip Firm KeyEye Looks to Raise $10M Series
B |
| By Michelle Tsai |
| 1/22/2004 |
Sacramento,
Calif. |
With chips that can help
enterprises upgrade networks less expensively, KeyEye believes customers can't
afford to ignore them. The Sacramento, Calif.-based firm is currently raising
$10 million for a Series B round that should finance development and bring
products to the market later this year.
CEO Harvey Scull said KeyEye has
started talking to investors for the round, which he hopes to close by June.
Existing investors will come back in, but KeyEye is also looking for new
investors. Previously KeyEye raised a $6.4 million Series A round from American
River Ventures, Blueprint Ventures, Technology Funding, and Sacramento
Angels.
After nearly three years of development, KeyEye finally reached
its goal of using its EchoWave chips to communicate at 10Gbps over copper. The
startup now plans to begin selling its mixed signal integrated circuits by the
end of the year.
Mr. Scull believes his chips will be most attractive to
the many corporate enterprises that have either a data center or need data
connectivity between products. "They're interested in re-using the
infrastructure they already have, so the cable infrastructure, the equipment
they have is extremely important. We can increase the capacity dramatically for
existing infrastructure at a very affordable price point," said Mr. Scull.
Before joining KeyEye, Mr. Scull had been senior vice president and
general manager of Tellab's networking technologies group and next generation
switching group. Much of the management team comes from LevelOne Communications,
which was acquired by Intel. Mike McConnell, vice president of marketing and
sales, was most recently director of business development and strategic
marketing at Intel. Hihroshi Takatori, chief technology officer, developed
Japanese TCM-based ISDN and an echo canceller for numerous product lines, and
holds 19 patents. Vice president of operations Lee Harrison had been vice
president of operations for Level One.
The company says its product will
be substantially cheaper than comparable fiber optic products, and will also try
to position its chips as an alternative to fiber optics. KeyEye plans to sell
its product in the type of small modules occupied by fiber optics devices today,
enabling customers to switch from fiber optics to copper in a data
center.
OEM system equipment vendors like Cisco and telecom equipment
vendors are expected to buy KeyEye's chips. As the startup moves into the module
business, it will also target the optical module manufacturers.
The
start-up is still small, with only 15 employees. KeyEye will bring on five more
employees this year, including a vice president of engineering.
©2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.