BoostWorks Targets Internet Acceleration

With 10 years experience in network enhancement experience behind it, BoostWorks of San Francisco recently garnered $7 million in venture financing to focus its skills on increasing Internet server performance.

Banque Nationale de Paris led the financing with a $4 million commitment. The round also included investments from Cross Atlantic Ventures and existing investors Innovacom, Partech International, Soffinova Partners and one individual investor.

“This round will further our Internet strategy,” Francois said. “The initial release of BoostWeb serves large scale enterprises, and at the end of the summer, we expect to release a content provider product targeting ISPs.”

The company’s Internet-related products seek to reduce download times by as much as 50% to enable swifter access for end users and reduce latency on the sites. Francois said the company aims to increase the efficiency of e-commerce sites, thereby permitting a greater number of users to access the information. In addition, proceeds from the financing will be used as working capital to support expansion into international markets and to open additional offices.

Following this round, BoostWorks intends to hold an initial public offering in mid-2000, although Francois said the company would not rule out additional private equity placements.

“If we need to spend more on development then we could go for another round, but ideally we want to go public without further dilution,” Francois said.