Intel Capital, the corporate venturing unit of semiconductor maker Intel, has invested $6.5m to extend a series B round financing for open software-defined networking solutions company Big Switch Networks.
The new funds will be used for research and development and to aid the company’s commercial expansion.
Since being founded in 2010, Big Switch has raised a total of $45m. The company raised $25m in a B round in November last year from a consortium which included the US-listed investment bank Goldman Sachs and venture capital firms Index Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Redpoint Ventures. Big Switch closed a $14m A round in March 2010 from Index and Khosia.
Bryan Wolf, managing director of Intel Capital, said: “At Intel Capital, we’re looking for companies creating the most disruptive data centre solutions, and Big Switch Networks open software-defined networking product suite is a leading solution in data centre network virtualization.”
Big Switch Networks is a spinout from Stanford University.
Intel Capital has invested over $10.8bn into 1,276 companies since being founded in 1991.