Linnaeus leads $3m round for M2fx

Ellie Pullen
23 May 2013

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Linnaeus Capital Partners has led a $3m funding round for UK-based fibre cable protection manufacturer M2fx.

The fresh capital will allow the company to expand its customer base with a focus on the "fibre to the premises" (FTTP) market, which is the installation of optical fibre directly into a home or office.

This round marks the third capital injection by Linnaeus into M2fx, and what is believed to be the fourth round of funding raised by the company in total. The GP began backing M2fx in 2010, in what is described on the company's website as the "first stage of a multi-million pound investment" by Linnaeus.

An Amsterdam-based private equity fund, Linnaeus typically invests in the SME market with a targeted holding period of five to seven years. The firm's assets under management and committed funds amount to $240m to date.

Linnaeus's portfolio companies include British sea bass producer Anglesey Aquaculture and UK-based inhalation device research and development company Kind Consumer.

Previous funding
Linnaeus first invested in M2fx in 2010, in a series-B round reported to be worth £4m. The following year, the GP led a series-C funding round for M2fx, which raised $4.65m (£3m).

Prior to this in 2007, M2fx received $1m (£600,000) in funding from Endeavour Ventures, according to unquote" data. The firm hasn't yet exited the business, according to its website.

Company
M2fx, formerly Miniflex, was founded in 1994. The company designs and manufactures fibre cables and protective casing for fibre optics including tubing, ducting and spliceless closures. Its lead product is the patented Miniflex design.

M2fx's products are used in the broadband telecoms, data centre, automotive, aerospace and defence markets. The company was recently selected to protect the fibre optic components within the Mars Organic Molecule Analyser (MOMA) – the largest instrument in the Mars Rover – for the European Space Agency's ExoMars mission in 2018.

The company is headquartered in Suffolk and employs 25 staff. Its products are sold in 52 countries worldwide and its customer base makes up 25% of all telecoms operators in these countries, including BT and AT&T, according to the company.

M2fx's most recently released financial figures show revenues of £1.7m and an operating loss of £1.9m for 2011.

People
Tom Carpenter is M2fx's CEO, while Joe Byrne is the company's CFO. Anita Hamilton is a managing partner at Linnaeus.