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For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Amy Foschetti
Interprose PR
Phone: + 1 (703) 917-0972
[email protected]

NanoOpto Secures Additional $4 Million in Venture Financing

Funding Will Be Used to Accelerate Next Generation Optical Components to the Market

Somerset, New Jersey, April 16, 2002. NanoOpto Corp., which is applying proprietary nano-optics and nano-manufacturing technology to design and manufacture components for optical networking, announced today that it has closed on an additional $4 million completing its Series “A”round of venture financing. The new financing comes from two funds within the Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) network, DFJ New England and DFJ Gotham, and the Harris & Harris Group, as well as matching investments from the existing equity partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Morgenthaler Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, and U.S. Trust’s Excelsior Venture Partners III, LLC. This additional $4 million brings the total financing raised by NanoOpto to date to $20M.

NanoOpto is designing and manufacturing a new class of optical components, known as subwavelength optical elements (SOEs), which increase the density, functionality, and integration levels of optical systems while reducing overall costs. SOEs are manufactured using proprietary nano-fabrication technology that can produce nano-optical components on a chip. NanoOpto recently announced that it is shipping samples of its polarization management subwavelength optical components to prospective customers for testing, as well as the production of its first wafer in its new nano-fabrication facility at its Somerset headquarters location.

“NanoOpto is pleased to add Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Harris & Harris Group to our base of investors,” says Barry Weinbaum, NanoOpto President and CEO. “They recognize the breakthrough potential of NanoOpto’s combination of unique, high-value optical components and patented nano-manufacturing technology. The new financing allows us to accelerate our plans for delivering next generation devices to the marketplace.”

About NanoOpto
NanoOpto Corp. is applying proprietary nano-optics and nano-manufacturing technology to design and make components for optical networking. Based on years of research, the company’s technology allows orders of magnitude more rapid prototyping, higher performance and lower overall system cost. Both on its own and with corporate partners, NanoOpto will use subwavelength techniques to produce better conventional optical components and also to create new classes of integrated components. The company’s development of patented nano-imprint lithography techniques forms the basis for high volume manufacture at its facility in Somerset, New Jersey. The company has received financial backing from leading venture capitalists.

About Draper Fisher Jurvetson — New England
Based in Cambridge, Mass., DFJ New England is an early-stage venture capital firm, providing expert counsel and financing to emerging companies that display the promise of significant growth and value creation. DFJ New England is the New England affiliate of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a top-tier Silicon Valley venture fund known for visionary early-stage investment. DFJ New England invests in information technology companies, with emphasis on enterprise software and the building block technologies for computing and communications bringing to bear both the long experience of its principals and the extensive resources of the DFJ network to help portfolio companies make key decisions and secure customers, partners, executives, and later round financing.

About Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham Ventures
Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham Ventures is an early-stage Information technology venture capital firm with approximately $100 million of capital under management, focused on investment opportunities in New York and the surrounding regions. The fund is managed by Ross H. Goldstein and Daniel J. Schultz and Charles Meakem and is an affiliate fund of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a leading venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham’s portfolio companies include Mimeo.com, LiveAdvice, OmniHub, XOSoft, Lumeta, 2Scoot.com, Q-Link, Quantiva and NanoOpto. For more information about Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham please visit www.dfjgotham.com.

About Harris & Harris Group
Harris & Harris Group, Inc. is a publicly traded (NASDAQ—TINY) venture capital firm. Historically, Harris & Harris Group has invested in early-stage companies based on proprietary intellectual property in a variety of fields. In 1994, Harris & Harris Group invested in its first nanotechnology company. Since August of 2001, all four of Harris & Harris Group’s new investments have been in small technology, which is now its exclusive focus.

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