Interxion, the pan-European firm that operates a €50 million internet data centre in Dublin, has raised €20 million from existing investors to fund consolidation and growth, it said yesterday.
The company, which is one of the biggest European data centre groups with 20 facilities in 11 countries, said its Dublin centre had signed deals worth €3 million since it had opened in May 2001.
But a phased expansion plan for its Dublin operation had been cancelled due to the difficult economic environment and the firm was concentrating on keeping what it already had, it said.
Interxion has raised €300 million from private investors since it was founded in 1998. Its latest funding took a year to complete, Mr Michel Boussard, chief executive of Interxion, said yesterday.
"We started very early because it is always easier to get money when you don't really need it," said Mr Boussard.
Several Irish data centres have gone bust in the past 18 months as demand for managed services failed to meet ambitious targets set during the internet boom.
Mr Boussard said the funding for Interxion was hugely significant as it showed confidence in the company's ability to achieve short-term profitability. Interxion has benefited because it had been funded solely through equity and had no debt, he added.
He said the firm would not need all of the €20 million to reach break-even but it was a good way to preserve the firm from the current bad economic environment.
Interxion was now focused on becoming cash-flow positive by the end of the year.
Revenues in the first six months of 2002 were up 20 per cent on the same time last year, said Mr Boussard.
He said the firm had picked up a handful of customers from bankrupt operator WorldCom, which runs internet data centres in Europe, including one in Dublin.
