Tuesday, November 11, 2008

PeerApp pulls in $8M in second round

By Mass High Tech Staff

PeerApp Ltd., the Newton maker of caching systems for peer-to-peer file sharing and other high-bandwidth Internet applications, has raised $8 million in Series B funding.

The round was led by the company’s existing investors, which include Pilot House Ventures of Boston, Waltham-based Cedar Fund and Israeli venture capital firm Evergreen Venture Partners, the company reported.

Founded in 2005 by former EMC Corp. executive Robert Mayer, PeerApp obtained a patent in April 2007 for technology it uses to cache popular content within an Internet service provider’s network, which reduces bandwidth costs and speeds the delivery of files and streams. The caching solution is designed to allow ISPs to defer network and infrastructure upgrades.

The additional investment will allow the company to expand into new markets, Mayer said. The company has already focused on overseas technology markets, with customers in Asia and South America, including True Internet, the largest Internet service provider in Thailand. The company has also opened an office in China.