ComponentSource Ltd, a UK-based online component reseller, has received second round funding of 7.25m pounds ($11.9m) which it will use to prompt developers to switch from Y2K to component building. UK venture capitalist 3i Plc, a previous investor, leads the round with 4.5m pounds ($7.4m), with Frisco, Texas-based CS Investment Partners adding 2.5m ponds ($2m), and London, UK-based Elderstreet Investments Ltd weighing in with the remaining 1.5m pounds ($2.4m). 3i has already invested 4.75m pounds ($7.8m) in ComponentSource, in 1997 when it was sole investor.
Demand for components is outstripping supply, according to ComponentSource, so the Reading company is keen to get more in the catalog if the firm is to meet its 100% growth $6m revenue target next year. ComponentSource currently has 1600 components in its catalog, from 200 application companies. It will use the cash to double those numbers in the next 12 months.
The firm will use marketing to try to raise the profile of components and convince developers to switch from Y2K work to components. Year 2000 remediation has been a key inhibitor for component development, the company says, but it expects an explosion in the market next year as frozen IT project money becomes available. ComponentSource is also working to encourage Japanese components to open up what has been a relatively closed market and promises to distribute Kanji components in the fourth quarter next year.
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