Matt Marshall over at VentureBeat had an interesting post yesterday regarding Anagran. What I find interesting is not about Anagran’s new flow-based router. It is the other elements of Matt’s post that is more interesting to me and really brings up one single question:
How can one idea that burned through $137M in venture funding can re-played under a different company’s moniker with the same founder and secure $22M more?
Is second time a charm? What is different this time that allows high quality players such as Argon Capital, ArrowPath Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson to invest? InfoWorld has a comprehensive write-up on the company and offering.
Now, let me clarify, I have no appreciation for the promise of Anagran’s technology and how it may change the face of the router marketplace. It could be the next Riverbed Technology. If you asked me to make a bet, I would say it is a tough space to succeed and has some real heavyweights as incumbents. Perhaps when you have an internet pioneer like Larry Roberts, perhaps there is a natural built-in pass or clear articulate explanation for prior results. My question is more fundamental about whether this is good money after bad simply based on the earlier failures.
It has to be some game-changer is the best I can tell from the outside-looking-in.
Other related posts:
- Internet co-inventor launches Internet routing startup
- Anagran Launches: The Return of Larry Roberts