Aruba Wireless Networks Raises $42 Million in Additional Financing
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, July 26, 2004 - Aruba Wireless Networks™ (Aruba) announced today it has secured an additional $27 million in equity financing and a $15 million, fully-committed debt and working capital facility. This brings the total equity investment in the company, since its inception In April 2002, to $59 million.
The new round of financing was led by WK Technology Fund and included existing investors Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners and Trinity Ventures. Aruba will use the new capital to fuel its growth in the enterprise wireless security market by augmenting and accelerating engineering, sales and marketing efforts.
Aruba also said it is generating predictable quarterly revenue and has shipped over 700 WLAN switching systems to more than 300 customers around the world since it announced general availability of its Wi-Fi switching system in June of 2003. New customers include major corporations across nearly all vertical markets such as Ariba, BEA Systems, Dartmouth College, eBay, Leeds University, Legal Services of New York, Microsoft Corporation, Sharp HealthCare, Spring Independent School District, University of Virginia Medical Center and Yahoo, Inc.
"The existence of Wi-Fi is having a profound impact on enterprise security as a whole," said Don LeBeau, president and CEO of Aruba Wireless Networks. "Wireless technology is forcing corporations to rethink their security. Enterprises understand that the model for network security is changing, and that they must change with it."
Corporations are now requesting a security architecture that allows them to secure the network based on who, what, when, where metrics instead of physical network ports or IP addresses. Users are managed and secured based on who they are rather than from where they connect.
"Aruba is at the intersection of two of the world's fastest growing and most important technology markets today - wireless and security - with the only true enterprise-class product available," said Wen Ko, the Chairman of WK Technology Fund. "We're excited to have the opportunity to participate in the continued success of the company."
Aruba markets and manufactures enterprise-class wireless LAN security systems used to build large-scale wireless environments that can be automatically deployed, easily controlled and completely secured from a single point. The Company is credited with pioneering the concept of centralized wireless security and innovating the industry's first and only modular Wi-Fi switching system.
About Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital provides venture capital funding to founders of startups who want to turn business ideas into companies. As the "Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs", Sequoia Capital's Partners have worked with innovators such as Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Bob Swanson of Linear Technology, Sandy Lerner and Len Bozack of Cisco Systems, Dan Warmenhoven of Network Appliance, Jerry Yang and David Filo of Yahoo!, Jen-Hsun Huang of nVIDIA, Michael Marks of Flextronics, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen of YouTube and Dominic Orr and Keerti Melkote of Aruba Wireless Networks. To learn more about Sequoia Capital visit www.sequoiacap.com.
Contact:
Douglas M. Leone
SEQUOIA CAPITAL
leone@sequoiacap.com
