US-listed computer network equipment maker Cisco Systems has agreed to invest $100m in start-up Insieme, which means “together” in Italian, and it has taken an option to acquire the business for up to $750m depending on its performance.
Cisco is backing a team of three, Mario Mazzola, Prem Jain and Luca Cafiero, with the so-called spin-in deal to create a company making internet switches having previously bought their two previous start-ups.
Cisco paid $750m for Andiamo Systems in 2004 and $678m for Nuova Systems in 2009 having originally invested $50m for a corporate venturing stake in them each.
The three were part of the team that developed the corporate networking switch at Crescendo Communications in the early 1990s before Cisco bought the company in 1993 for $94m and built it into a multi-billion dollar product line.