Incipient gets $20M third round

Four-year-old Incipient Inc. will support the anticipated launch of its first product with $20 million in fresh third-round capital from local venture firms.

The Waltham, Mass.-based storage switching software maker added GrandBanks Capital
of Newton Center, Mass., to its investor syndicate, thus bringing in a
fifth Boston-area firm. Previous backers, all of whom followed on in
the new round, included Greylock Partners of Waltham and San Mateo, Calif., and GlobeSpan Capital Partners, HLM Venture Partners and Sigma Partners, all of Boston.

Those firms
participated in Incipient's $25 million second round, completed in two
installments during 2003. Including a $10 million first round from
2001, Incipient has now raised $55 million.

GrandBanks' managing general partner, Charley Lax, said he had
been tracking Incipient since before its first round. Although the firm
prefers to invest in a startup's first round, Lax said he found
Incipient's ability to sign customers compelling enough to invest in a
later round.

"Our senior management team's track record is strong with local
investors," said senior vice president of marketing Robert Infantino.
"Beginning in October 2004, we looked at a few investors in New York
and on the West Coast, but in the end we received a term sheet quickly
from [the syndicate led by] GrandBanks, and we chose to work with
them."