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For Immediate
Release
Media Contact:
Amy Foschetti
Interprose PR
Phone: + 1 (703) 917-0972
[email protected]
NanoOpto Secures
Additional $7M in Venture Financing
B-Round funding
to be used for product development and commercialization
Somerset,
New Jersey. September 9, 2003. NanoOpto Corp.,
which is applying proprietary nano-fabrication technology to the
rapid design and high volume manufacture of nano-optic devices for
optical systems and networks, announced today that it has closed
on an additional $7 million, completing its Series “B”
round of venture financing. This new round of financing comes from
existing equity partners Morgenthaler Ventures, Bessemer Venture
Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) Gotham Ventures, Draper
Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) New England Ventures, U.S. Trust’s
Excelsior Venture Partners III, L.L.C., and the Harris & Harris
Group. The additional $7 million, which brings the total financing
raised to date to $27 million, will enable NanoOpto to continue
technology and product commercialization and advance into the revenue
stage.
“NanoOpto
is both pleased and excited to have the support of some of the best
regarded venture capital investors in the world,” says Barry
Weinbaum, President and CEO of NanoOpto. “These
investors recognize our enormous potential, the disruptive nature
of our technology, and the breadth of market applications we can
address. We plan to use this new round of investment to build on
the exciting customer traction already created through the introduction
of new products and to ramp our operations.”
With this new
round of financing, Chip Meakem of Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham
Ventures and Todd Hixon of Draper Fisher Jurvetson New England join
NanoOpto’s Board of Directors. They join existing Board Members
Ed Zschau (Chairman), Barry Weinbaum (President and CEO), Greg Blonder
(Morgenthaler Ventures), Howard Lee, and Phil Anthony.
NanoOpto
is creating novel classes of optical components by manipulating
light with nano-scale structures to provide increased functionality,
easier integration, lower total cost, and higher volume capabilities
in comparison to traditional optical devices. NanoOpto
has commercialized this unique technology through their proprietary
optical component designs and internally developed manufacturing
methods for a broad range of markets, including optical data transfer,
telecommunications, sensors, and displays.
About
NanoOpto
NanoOpto Corp. is applying proprietary nano-fabrication
technology to the rapid design and high volume manufacture of nano-optic
devices for optical systems and networks. The company’s subwavelength
scale nano-optic design capability combined with nano-scale manufacturing
technologies delivers optical components that allow more rapid prototyping,
higher performance, and lower overall system cost. Both independently
and with industry partners, NanoOpto uses its technology
to produce superior versions of standard optical components and
new classes of integrated optical subassemblies for both custom
and general applications. The company has received financial backing
from leading venture capitalists and is based in Somerset, New Jersey.
About
Morgenthaler Ventures
Morgenthaler, a leading venture capital and buyout firm, was founded
in 1968. The firm focuses on early-stage technology investments
as well as middle-market management buyouts. It has funded over
180 companies in its 33-year history, including two of the last
decade’s highest performing IPOs: Microchip Technology (1993)
and Premisys Communications (1995). Current representative portfolio
investments include component and semiconductor companies such as
Xponent, Cortina Systems, and Peregrine Semiconductor, as well as
systems companies such as Catena Networks and Caspian Networks.
With its $850-million fund raised in early 2001, the firm has a
total of just under $2.0 billion under management.
About
Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners, with offices in California, Massachusetts,
and New York, is the leading national, early-stage venture capital
firm in communications technology and internet infrastructure. The
firm manages more than a billion dollars of venture funds, carrying
on a tradition of hands-on, active venture investing that has continued
since 1911. Many leading-edge communications companies, including
Cascade, Ciena, Parametric, QED, Sirocco, Sonus Networks, and VeriSign
selected BVP as their early-stage venture partner.
About
Draper Fisher Jurvetson New England
Based in Cambridge, MA, 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. It
brings 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.
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