[0] Bytemobile Raises $29 Million in Equity Financing; Series B Round Closed in December 2001 Brings Total Equity Funding to $44 Million.

Business/High-Tech Editors

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 2002

Wireless Optimization and Service Infrastructure Innovator

Attracts Elite Venture Firms in Tight Capital Market

Bytemobile, Inc. today announced it has recently received $29 million in Series B funding from a group of investors led by Ericsson Venture Partners and including Benchmark Capital, Crossbridge Ventures, Trident Capital, R. B. Webber and Company and others.

In its Series A round following the formation of the company in July 2000, Bytemobile received over $15 million from a group of investors led by Benchmark Capital and including Angel Investors LP, Dot-Edu Ventures LP, Eagle Technology Ventures LLC (a venture fund backed by Craig McCaw), Skymoon Ventures and others.

"Bytemobile is addressing user experience, security and performance issues to unlock value for wireless carriers' data products and services," said Mark McAndrews, partner at Ericsson Venture Partners. "The significant addressable market, combined with superb technology and seasoned management, convinced us that Bytemobile is an excellent investment in a tight capital environment."

Bytemobile provides data and network optimization solutions that enable wireless carriers around the world to offer their customers an enhanced data experience with fast access speeds and improved reliability and security. The company's Macara(TM) platform is a comprehensive new element for the wireless network that resolves many of the performance problems associated with the delivery of IP-based data over wireless networks. The Macara platform, a wireless optimization service node (WOSN), dramatically improves bandwidth utilization and facilitates integration of third-party value-added services. These benefits will improve the wireless data-user experience, which can spur increased adoption and usage of wireless data products and services.

"Carriers can no longer afford to wait for 3G networks to be built; they need to begin generating revenue from real mobile data services and applications, using the network speeds available with their current spectrum," says Jason Chapman, senior analyst for Gartner's Mobile Communications Team. "Carriers must look at alternative ways of implementing data services, such as flexible optimization solutions to deliver a faster and more reliable data offering, that will allow them to attract and retain new users while awaiting their 3G networks."

World-Class Team in Place

Bytemobile has assembled a seasoned management team with significant experience in the wireless carrier, network, computing and applications markets. Bytemobile's executives have held high-level positions at 3Com, AT&T Wireless, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, KPMG Consulting, Lucent, Sony, VeriFone and Vodafone. Complementing the management is an all-star technical team from prestigious academic institutions such as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of California at Berkeley, who have made seminal contributions to the wireless and networking industries and created much of the Bytemobile technology. In addition to their academic experience, the technical team has helped develop real-world commercial products for companies including Intel, SGI, and DEC.

"We are extremely pleased to have completed our second round of funding in a very difficult capital markets climate," said Thomas W. Hubbs, Bytemobile's chief financial officer. "To be able to attract a world-class team of investors and management at this stage in our company's development is very gratifying and enables us to grow our business in keeping with opportunities for wireless network expansion on a global basis."

About Bytemobile

Bytemobile enables wireless carriers to improve the wireless data-user experience and security over any wireless data network, regardless of their underlying technology, and including 2G, 2.5G and 3G. The company offers a unique suite of compression, acceleration and network connectivity technologies -- with capabilities for network-initiated virtual private network (VPN); virtual local area network (VLAN); network address translation (NAT); and authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) -- that enables carriers to offer improved services to consumer and enterprise customers.