Cityreach International, the Internet service company which is building a Secure Internet Exchange in Clonshaugh, Co Dublin, has raised $155 million (€172.2 million) in private funding to accelerate its building programme in Europe.

Some of this cash will be used to complete its 120,000 sq ft Dublin data centre, which involves an investment of close to $30 million and is due to be launched on October 23rd.

The Dublin centre will be one of 20 fully serviced secure Internet exchanges across Europe which will offer companies managed co-location cabinets and a range of value-added services to Internet service providers.

Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, Mr Frazer Hamilton, chief marketing officer at Cityreach International, said some 7,000 sq ft of co-location space had already been sold for the Dublin centre and a local sales force was being recruited.

The latest round of financing was organised from a group of investors led by Investcorp, the global investment firm.

Other investors in the group include Morgan Grenfell Private Equity, certain affiliates of Merrill Lynch & Co, and Vulcan Ventures.

The company has already raised $46 million (€51.1 million) from investors in an earlier round of funding and has recently signed a €131 million senior credit facility with banks.

Formed in 1998, Cityreach opened its first Internet exchange in Amsterdam in April.

Its London exchange is due to open later this month while further sites are under construction in Budapest, Stockholm and Hamburg.

By the end of 2000 Cityreach plans to have opened additional exchanges in Berlin and Munich, while leases have been agreed to develop additional exchanges in Paris and Brussels.