DisplayLink has received USD24m in a Series C venture capital round led by new investor DAG Ventures, with participation from existing investors Atlas Venture, Balderton Capital and DFJ Es
DisplayLink has received USD24m in a Series C venture capital round led by new investor DAG Ventures, with participation from existing investors Atlas Venture, Balderton Capital and DFJ Esprit.
The funds will be used to accelerate product development and revenue growth and to strengthen DisplayLink’s leadership in the rapidly accelerating network display market. To date, the company has raised USD51m of capital.
Founded in 2003, DisplayLink develops semiconductor and software solutions for network display applications that enable seamless and high-quality connections between computers and displays using standard wired or wireless networking protocols. The company is based in Palo Alto, California with main R&D and product development in Cambridge in the UK.
‘The simplicity of USB-enabled multi-monitor computing has taken off and is on its way to becoming a mainstream business and consumer electronics phenomenon,’ says Hamid Farzaneh, DisplayLink president and chief executive. ‘DisplayLink is successfully driving this shift, which is reflected in the strong support we have from our investors.’
Young Chung, managing director of DAG Ventures, who will serve as an observer on the company’s board of directors, says: ‘We’ve led this funding round because of the tremendous traction we’ve seen for DisplayLink’s products and because of the team’s proven ability to execute on a complex but very powerful strategy. We believe that DisplayLink has the right mix of talent, technology and customer-centric vision to create an industry powerhouse.’
Display, PC, projector and PC accessory manufacturers use DisplayLink’s technology to build USB-based products including universal laptop docks, adapters and monitors. The company’s announced customers include I-O Data, Iogear, Kensington Technology Group, LG, Ratoc, Samsung and Toshiba.
DAG Ventures is a venture capital partnership with roots from the 1980s in the cable TV, infrastructure, media, and wireless industries, while Atlas Venture is a leading early-stage international venture capital firm that invests in technology and life sciences businesses in the US and Europe.
Since its establishment in 1980, Atlas partners have helped build more than 300 companies in more than 15 different countries. In the past decade, 25 portfolio companies have been acquired and 37 are now public companies with an aggregate market capitalisation of over USD12bn. Atlas Venture is currently investing from its seventh fund and manages more than USD2bn in capital from offices in Boston, London, Munich, and Paris.
Based in London, Balderton is one of Europe’s largest venture capital firms, managing some USD1.5bn. Since 2000, the firm has invested in more than 70 companies in Europe, the US and China. Investments include European payment processing network Alphyra, social networking sites Bebo and Habbo Hotel, online betting exchange Betfair, open-source database business MySQL and pay-TV broadcaster Setanta Sports.
Members of the DFJ Esprit team have been active in technology investing since 1985 and have invested in more than 130 companies. Over the past 16 months DFJ Esprit, which has offices in London and Cambridge and invests throughout Europe, has made 23 investments.
