Here's another one to add to the list of LPG funded companies. I'm working on getting some details.
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biz.yahoo.com
Tuesday April 13, 8:32 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
TransMedia Communications Receives $29 Million in
Financing from Prominent U.S. and Asia Pacific
Telecommunications Investors
Funding Reflects Strong Worldwide Business Opportunities For
TransMedia's New-Generation Voice Switch for Converged Carrier
IP/PSTN Networks
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 13, 1999-- TransMedia Communications, a leading provider of a new
generation of telecommunications equipment that integrates carriers' Internet/packet and traditional telephony networks, today
announced that it has received $29 million in a second round of financing.
Reflecting the significant market opportunities for TransMedia's voice-over-packet network (VOPN) switch both in the U.S.
and abroad, the new investors in TransMedia include Hambrecht & Quist (H&Q) Asia Pacific, Berkeley International Capital
Corporation, Crimson Investments, Government Technology Fund of Taiwan, and Vertex Management.
TransMedia's existing investors, Venrock Associates and Brentwood Venture Capital, have invested additional capital to this
round as well. This second-round financing brings the total investment in TransMedia Communications to $36.5 million.
''TransMedia is a hot company with outstanding prospects -- they have the right team and product at the right time for the right
market. They're one of the best companies we've evaluated and invested in this year,'' said Ta-lin Hsu, Chairman of H&Q Asia
Pacific. H&Q Asia Pacific has more than $1 billion in assets in high-tech firms, including major telecommunications companies
throughout Great China.
''They've been able to establish an early lead in their market -- in just nine months they've developed and are already delivering
to traditional and new-breed U.S. carriers a 'technology agnostic' edge switch that's playing a pivotal role in defining the new
converged IP/PSTN carrier networks,'' said Hsu.
''We're very impressed with TransMedia's seasoned management team and Board, their development speed, excellent
marketing, and their ability to establish strong partnerships and carrier customer acceptance in this large and emerging telecom
segment,'' said Lee Kheng Nam, President of Vertex Management. Vertex Management works closely with high-tech
companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific, including major telecommunications providers in Singapore.
''We not only see a tremendous business opportunity for TransMedia in the U.S., but through our relationships with some of
the top carriers in Asia Pacific and Europe, we also see an excellent market for their products internationally. Many of the
international carriers are looking to migrate from traditional telephony to IP-based networks, but don't know what the mix of
their traffic will be over time, so they need a very flexible platform. TransMedia's hybrid circuit/packet switch is an ideal solution
for them. Our value is in introducing TransMedia to these international carriers and international distribution channels,'' said Lee
Kheng Nam.
Said Gwong-Yih Lee, TransMedia founder and CEO, ''We're very pleased to have attracted these world-class investors, and
look forward to them playing an active role in our success. This new second-round financing will enable us to continue to
expand our customer base in the U.S. and later internationally, to develop and market new carrier-class product capabilities,
and to add other strategic partnerships that result in a very broad, tightly integrated new-generation
services/applications/switching solution for our carrier customers.''
TransMedia was co-founded in early 1998 by Gwong-Yih Lee, who founded Digicom Systems, a leading high-speed network
access company that was successfully acquired by Creative Labs. TransMedia's board members include industry pioneers
Richard Liebhaber, former MCI CTO and an active member of the Internet2 executive committee; Wu-Fu Chen, who founded
Cascade, Arris, and Ardent; in addition to TransMedia's investors and Gwong-Yih Lee.
About TransMedia Communications
TransMedia Communications is delivering a new generation ''media-aware'' voice-over-packet-network (VOPN) switch that
gives carriers a new edge, bridging the gap between high-performance Internet/packet (IP/ATM) network and traditional
public switched telephone network (PSTN) communications to provide lower cost services and enable high-impact customer
services.
TransMedia's intelligent MMS-1600 system provides a flexible, risk-free evolution to new technologies while defining
''carrier-class'' reliability and management in the new-world carrier network.
Selected as 1999 ''Best of Breed'' startup by the industry's top venture capitalists(1), TransMedia has pioneered a
quality-driven company and solution. It has been awarded full ISO 9001 quality certification and has brought together top talent
from Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT - news)/Bay Networks (NYSE:BAY - news), Cisco (Nasdaq:CSCO - news), 3Com
(Nasdaq:COMS - news), Trillium, Alteon Networks and Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD - news).
For more information, visit TransMedia's web site at www.trsmedia.com, email info@trsmedia.com or call 408/363-8988.
(1) Selected by independent research firm VentureOne's advisory board, consisting of the most successful venture capitalists as
proven by the total equity created by their portfolio companies.
Note to Editors: TransMedia Communications, the TransMedia logo and MMS-1600 are trademarks of TransMedia
Communications Inc. All other products or brand names are trademarks of their respective companies.
Contact:
TransMedia Communications
Laura Stiff, 408/363-7311
lstiff@trsmedia.com
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