So Much For Procket
from the that-didn't-last-long dept
At the bottom of the down years in technology, there were still a few companies that managed to raise lots of money at insane valuations and have dot-com insanity-style stories. One of the biggest was Procket. When news first came out about the company they were still in “stealth” mode (oh so very dot com), but had a $1.55 billion valuation. As stealth as they claimed to be, everyone knew they were working on the next generation of “super router” to be the next Cisco or Juniper. The company has gone on something of a soap opera ride since then, with more executive shakeups that you should bother counting. Om Malik started the story buzzing today after hearing that someone was looking to buy up Procket, and it didn’t take long for the rumors to get picked up elsewhere: Cisco has bought some of their assets for $80 million. From $1.55 billion to $80 million in about two years. That takes talent.
Comments on “So Much For Procket”
No Subject Given
The talent comes from getting people to say they had a valuation of $1.55B without laughing. If you’re still in R&D mode, that’s a pretty mighty feat. $80m, while much smaller is still probably a very good profit for those invested…
Re: No Subject Given
They invested nearly $300 million. I’m not sure how an $80 million return on $300 million will ever be a “very good profit”
memories
Remember when people talked about “burn rate” like it was a good thing?
A nit
It was 4 years, and while the bubble was bursting, sliding valuations were the norm.
Tony