Bigfoot raises $8M for fast networking for gamers

Bigfoot Networks has raised $8 million in an effort to expand its business of making network cards that speed broadband performance for online gamers.

Bigfoot makes network cards that help gamers deal with the problem of lag. Lag is the frustrating delay that happens in the middle of an online game when you’re trying to make something happen at a high speed — like shooting at a moving target — but your network performance is too slow. Bigfoot can fix the problem using its own custom networking chip and a network add-in card for a computer.

Companies such as Dell, Alienware, VisionTek and EVGA are reselling the Bigfoot Killer Xeno networking cards, which have built-in Internet voice applications so that gamers can talk to each other during online games. Bigfoot is also licensing its technology to other companies.

The second round of funding was led by existing investors North Bridge Venture Partners, Palomar Ventures and Raven Venture Partners. To date, the Redwood City, Calif., company has raised $20.75 million.

Bigfoot also said it has hired former Polycom executive Wayne Dunlap as vice president of engineering and added Greg Ballard, outgoing CEO of Glu Mobile, to its board.

The company was founded in 2004 and has 30 employees. On the chip side, competitors include Broadcom and Marvell. In networking peripheral equipment, rivals include Linksys, Netgear, D-Link and Intel.