Mixing good news with bad, Cadant Inc., a maker of next-generation
cable-modem-termination-system gear, said Friday that it secured a new round of
financing, laid off about 15 percent of its work force and named a new CEO.
The Lisle, Ill.-based start-up raised about $9 million in a round that
included its original investors (Venrock Associates, Access Technology Partners
LP and Chase Capital) and a new one, World Wide Associates Inc., Cadant director
of business development Tom Ruvarac said.
Cadant's first two rounds netted about $41 million. The company said its most
recent cash infusion will enable it to finish developing its next-generation
CMTS, which is expected to reach production readiness sometime this fall.
Ruvarac said Cadant hopes to close a much larger round of funding within the
next four months.
He said about 23 workers were let go, leaving Cadant with about 110
employees. He added that the cuts mainly impacted the company's marketing
division, and that Cadant's engineering and development group were
untouched.
Cadant's layoff announcement Friday served another blow to the
next-generation CMTS sector. In mid-May, RiverDelta Networks Inc., a start-up
based in Tewksbury, Mass., laid off about 20 percent of its employees, paring
down its total work force to roughly 200.
When asked whether the moves were designed to prepare Cadant for a sale,
Ruvarac said, 'There's always a possibility of a sale of the corporation if the
correct offer comes in, but we're not purposely doing this to prepare the
company for a sale.' He added that the company intends to complete the
development of its technology, secure customer contracts and become a
self-sustaining company.
'We're not in a fire-sale mode,' Ruvarac said, noting that Cadant will
exhibit at the National Show, which kicks off the week of June 11.
Cadant's flagship product is the 'C4,' a CMTS/router based on Data Over Cable
Service Interface Specification 1.1. Cable Television Laboratories Inc. is
currently testing that product for the advanced specification in certification
round 18, which is slated to end June 15.
Cadant currently has chassis undergoing lab and field trials with a number of
U.S. and international MSOs, Ruvarac said, but he wouldn't be more specific. He
added that Cadant could make some announcements to address that subject this
week.
Buried in a press release, Cadant also said it had named Charlie Walker as
its new CEO. Walker, who has been a Cadant board member for about six months,
officially took the CEO reins May 29, Ruvarac said.
Most recently, Walker was with J.P. Morgan Partners. Before that, he worked
for Access Technology Partners, a West Coast venture-capital firm and Cadant
investor.
Despite the soft economy, 'Cadant will be making several significant
partnership and product announcements [in the coming weeks] that will strengthen
its position and illustrate why it will be a very successful enterprise,' Walker
said in a press release.
