OTTAWA - Tiny Spotwave Wireless of Ottawa today joins a growing list of companies that have managed to thaw the frozen venture capital market and secure new financing rounds.

Spotwave, a wireless technology company that makes equipment to improve cellular phone reception in buildings, will today announce a second-round investment financing of $23.9-million. The new money brings the total venture capital raised by Spotwave in the past eight months to $27-million.

It's the fourth technology company in less than a week to announce a financing round, suggesting that venture capital may be flowing more easily these days. Ottawa's Trillium Photonics Inc. announced last Monday that it raised US$29-million. Maximum Throughput Inc. of Montreal nailed a $7-million round and Hyperchip Inc., also of Montreal, announced a $70-million fourth round of financing on Friday, which includes a $50-million loan from Investissement-Québec.

This is all good news to the hundreds of small companies looking for financing to secure their futures -- and a sign that investors may be willing to ramp up their spending this spring after months of dwindling VC deals.

According to figures compiled by venture capital research firm Macdonald and Associates, 809 VC deals were signed in the first nine months of 2001, down 27% from the 1,107 deals signed during the first nine months of 2000. The amount of money invested in those deals was down 15% to $3.8-billion.

Disbursements in the third quarter totalled $1.2-billion, down only slightly from the $1.4- billion invested the quarter before. Details of financings during the fourth quarter will be released in the next few weeks.

Spotwave plans to use its new money to drive continued product development and grow activities in sales, marketing and product delivery. But growth will be controlled, said Shane Young, the company's CEO. He said while adding new sales and research staff will increase the company's size, he doesn't plan a hiring spree to augment its 31 employees.

Newbury Ventures and VenGrowth Capital Partners led Spotwave's financing round. Also participating were Venturelink and Working Ventures and existing investors Venture Coaches and Primaxis Technology Ventures Inc.

Mr. Young said it took five months to secure the deal. "We were fortunate and we met our objectives but it was a long process," he said. "The due diligence being done now, looking at the company, the people, the marketing and opportunities, has gotten a lot tougher."

Spotwave's product, Spotcell 100, can be installed in buildings to greatly improve the reception and quality of cellphone signals. It is a two-part piece of equipment -- one part installed inside the offending building or vehicle and the second outside.

The first version of Spotwave's product retails for about US$2,500. The company is researching new products to improve digital phone signal coverage and a mobile version of Spotcell 100.

Spotwave is selling its product to a few lead customers and plans to roll out sales to U.S. cellular service providers over the next year. While the company is collecting revenue now, it does not forecast a profit for at least another year.

"It feels really good to be at this position," Mr. Young said.

"Certainly everybody here in the company worked hard to get us to the point where we've raised a significant amount of money and attracted very good investors. We're hoping to take a bit of time to savour the moment and then we'll get back to work."