UFO Secures Second Round of Financing
By Josh Friedman
Times Staff Writer
November 21 2002
Bucking an industry trend that has left many tech firms starved for cash,
a broadband service provider has secured $10 million in venture capital
to expand into the Los Angeles and Dallas markets.
Unlimited Fiber Optic Communications of San Francisco, which offers
high-speed data and video transmission for corporations, said this week
that it got its second round of financing from a group that includes San
Diego-based Sorrento Networks Corp. and Brentwood-based venture capital
firm Kline Hawkes.
The stock market slump and the slide in business capital spending have
left investors loath to finance tech and telecom firms.
In the third quarter, telecom and networking venture funding fell by
about one-third from the second quarter, according to the MoneyTree
survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Venture Economics and the National
Venture Capital Assn.
UFO plans a major push next year in the L.A. market aimed at businesses
such as media firms, which might use the service to transmit raw film
footage known as dailies, Chief Executive Charlie Schoenhoeft said.
UFO, founded in January 2000, operates optical networks in San Francisco
and Chicago.
British Telecom's broadcasting operation in Marina del Rey has been using
UFO's equipment for several months to transmit video, Schoenhoeft said,
but the new financing will help UFO utilize the rest of its L.A. fiber
network.
UFO has unused fiber "built into" more than 40 TV, film and
post-production studios around L.A., he said.
Kline Hawkes partner Jay Ferguson said his firm believes "the story has
gotten better" for UFO because many rivals have fallen by the wayside.