| April
16 , 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ChipWrights Receives $18
Million in Financing
Visual Signal Processor Technology
Continues Gaining Momentum
NEWTON, Mass., April 16, 2003 --
ChipWrights, Inc., the leader in digital
signal processing technology for
digital imaging applications, today
announced that it has raised $18 million
in its third round of equity financing.
This new round brings the company’s
total funding to approximately $32
million. Rock Maple Ventures led the
round, which included a number of
additional new investors SpaceVest,
Axxon Capital, Axiom Venture Partners,
Egan Managed Capital, Shiprock Capital,
Adams Harkness & Hill Technology
Ventures, and previous round
investors Techfarm Capital, BancBoston
Ventures, New England Partners, MTDC,
and Band of Angels VC
Fund. The SoundView Technology Group
served as the Company’s sole
placement agent in connection with
the
financing. The funding will be used
for ongoing development and marketing
of ChipWrights’ visual signal
processor (ViSP) devices for use in
a wide range of digital imaging and
multimedia applications.
The company will be continuing to
develop new ViSP family members for
use in products ranging from
mobile image/video devices such as
digital still and video cameras to
digital color copier and printers,
to image
servers and transcoders. ChipWrights’
VisSP architecture offers very high
performance, flexible
programmability – with unprecedented
support for popular imaging algorithms
including JPEG and MPEG4
encoding/decoding at low levels of
power and cost. These characteristics
make it an ideal platform for digital
imaging applications across the consumer
electronics industry.
“It is no secret that venture
capital firms are highly selective
these days on which companies they
choose to
work with and only the very best companies
are able to secure funding, “
said Dennis Costello, Managing
Director at Rock Maple Ventures. “We
are enormously impressed with the
prospects for ChipWrights because
they combine innovative technology,
a booming market, and an outstanding
management team with a
demonstrated record of customer traction
and technical execution.”
"This funding underscores our
success in challenging times. Closing
this funding round represents
another milestone in our company’s
development. It follows our deal allowing
Agilent Technologies to use our
architecture, the delivery of our
second chip, the CW4511, and the selection
of our chip by EDN Magazine as
one of three DSPs contending for innovation
of the year award," said Brian
Fitzgerald, president and CEO,
ChipWrights, Inc. "ChipWrights’
ViSP platform best satisfies the mobile
digital imaging market. Its novel
architecture, superior performance,
programmability, low power and low
price means that OEMs can deliver
innovative and highly competitive
products faster and more economically."
About ChipWrights ChipWrights is
a privately-held fabless semiconductor
company offering a new class of DSP-based
devices called visual signal processors
(ViSPs). Built on an innovative architecture
comprising a RISC processor and a
highly- integrated, scalable array
of DSP vector processing units, this
fully programmable, low cost, low
power, and very high performance system-on-chip
(SoC) family is ideal for building
competitive products in the mobile
digital imaging and video markets.
Applications range from real-time
image capture/presentation to image
transmission/network media infrastructure.
ChipWrights provides a complete software
development tool suite and hardware
reference designs. Headquartered in
the United States, the company has
offices in Newton, MA and Tokyo, Japan.
Additional information is available
at www.chipwrights.com.
About Rock Maple Ventures
Rock Maple Ventures, L.P. is uniquely
positioned to build leading-edge companies
through in-depth experience,
focus on new investments and a proprietary
network for business partnerships.
With $80 million in capital and
over 30 years of real-world executive,
investment and entrepreneurial experience,
Rock Maple Ventures is an
active, value-added investor. Additional
information is available at www.rockmapleventures.com.
About Axxon Capital Axxon Capital
is a private equity firm that targets
women and minority businesses. It
seeks enterprising entrepreneurs with
big ideas and commitment to growth.
Axxon funds a range of companies,
but typically seeks to build alliances
with emerging and established businesses
operating in the New Economy. For
more information please visit www.axxoncapital.com.
About SpaceVest SpaceVest, a venture
capital firm managing approximately
$300 million across three funds, has
attracted global institutional limited
partners for over a decade. The firm,
which pioneered investing in space-related
technology companies, has evolved
into a broader focus, which includes
companies that leverage advanced technologies.
SpaceVest typically leads expansion-round
syndicates in US-based companies.
For more information about SpaceVest,
visit www.spacevest.com.
About Egan-Managed Capital Egan-Managed
Capital is a New England-based venture
capital firm that provides a unique
funding alternative for early-stage
high-technology start-ups. Leveraging
more than 80 years of combined financial
and business management experience,
Egan-Managed Capital delivers field-tested
strategies, first-hand technology
expertise and hands-on management
involvement. Founded in 1997, the
firm currently manages two funds with
$143 million in committed capital.
For more information on Egan-Managed
Capital and its team please visit
www.egancapital.com.
About Shiprock Capital Shiprock Capital
, founded by Richard C. Shipley, Chairman
of Shipley Company LLC, is a private
equity firm that invests in the development
of early and expansion stage technology
companies in the fields of information
technology and the physical sciences.
For more information, contact shiprockcapital@earthlink.net.
About Adams, Harkness & Hill
Technology Ventures Adams, Harkness
& Hill Technology Ventures is
a venture capital firm closely affiliated
with the technology franchise of leading
emerging growth investment bank, Adams,
Harkness & Hill. The firm invests
nationwide in four segments of technology:
Software, emerging growth semiconductors,
technology manufacturing solutions,
and technology services. For more
information, visit www.ahhventures.com.
About Axiom Venture Partners
L.P. Axiom Venture Partners
provides capital and strategic assistance
to rapidly growing high technology
companies. Axiom's professionals bring
substantial investing experience and
industry expertise to the venture
capital process. With over $200M in
capital under management, the firm
seeks to consider investment proposals
in two main industry areas. The first
is high technology, which includes
communications, software, Internet
infrastructure, and information technology.
Biotechnology constitutes the second
area. Through its office in Connecticut,
Axiom invests actively throughout
the United States in early or late
stage companies. For more information,
visit www.axiomventures.com[pl
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