Intel Capital Leads Investment in Pando Networks' Second Funding Round of $7 Million17 May 2006
Pando Networks Inc., creators of a peer-to-peer distribution solution for the private transport of consumers' digital media, today announced the completion of $7 million in financing led by Intel Capital.
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The investment will support the launch of Pando's first consumer offering, a solution for sharing personal media -- home movies, folders of family photos, business presentations -- too large to send via email. A small, free, downloadable application, Pando allows users everywhere to conveniently share high quality digital media using their existing email addresses.
Intel's investment in Pando is being made through its Digital Home Fund, which invests in companies developing technologies that let people enjoy their digital content on multiple devices in the home and beyond. Private equity investors BRM Capital and Wheatley Partners, which provided the company's first round of financing, also participated in this round.
Since its closed-beta launch five months ago, Pando has become a viral success story with more than a half-million people having installed the software. To date, Pando has delivered more than a petabyte, or 1 billion megabytes, of data.
"Sharing personal media such as home videos and photos over the Internet has exploded over the past year and is part of Intel's comprehensive vision for the Digital Home," said Curt Nichols, vice president and managing director of the Digital Home Fund for Intel Capital. "Pando's products accelerate this trend by allowing people to share increasingly larger media files that current programs cannot support, in a very easy-to-use email format."
Featuring a highly intuitive, drag, drop and send interface, Pando combines the best aspects of peer-to-peer technology with the send-and-forget paradigm of email. Using Pando Networks' expanded BitTorrent technology, Pando bypasses the email server to transport "Pando Packages," a combination of files and/or folders, which are then downloaded directly from the Pando network to the recipient's computer.
"Pando's unprecedented ease of use and direct desktop-to-desktop functionality is perfect for people who don't have the time or inclination to maintain a social network site. Pando lets you simply send your personal media, hassle-free," said Robert Levitan, Pando Networks co-founder and CEO. Levitan also co-founded media site iVillage, which was sold recently to NBC/Universal.
About Pando Networks, Inc.
Pando Networks is a privately held company that provides the transport for today's large personal media. The company offers a free, simple to use consumer application with an underlying peer-to-peer network architecture. Based in New York City, Pando Networks is led by CEO Robert Levitan, who previously co-founded iVillage. The company is funded by Intel Capital, BRM Capital and Wheatley Partners. For more information, please visit http://www.pando.com .
About Intel Capital
Intel Capital, Intel's venture capital organization, makes equity investments in innovative technology start-ups and companies worldwide. Intel Capital invests in a broad range of companies offering hardware, software and services targeting enterprise, home, mobility, health, consumer Internet and semiconductor manufacturing.
Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$4 billion in more than 1,000 companies spanning more than 30 countries. During this time, about 160 portfolio companies have been acquired and another 150 have gone public on exchanges around the world. In 2005, Intel Capital invested about US$265 million in about 140 deals with approximately 60 percent of funds invested outside the United States. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit http://www.intelcapital.com .
This investment is in Intel Capital's $200M Digital Home Fund. Intel's Digital Home Fund represents a significant step in the company's strategy to enable people to enjoy digital content - including music, photos and video - on multiple devices in the home and beyond. This fund invests in companies developing hardware and software, as well as connectivity and supporting technologies. Through this and other work, Intel is leading efforts to drive the convergence of personal computer and consumer electronics devices on a seamless, wireless home network.
Source: prnewswire
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