Applied Science Fiction Raises More Than $30 Million in Venture Financing; Second Round Funding Fuels Accelerated
AUSTIN, TEXAS (April 6) BUSINESS WIRE -April 6, 1999--Applied Science Fiction (ASF), an Intellectual Property (IP) company that creates innovative technologies to facilitate the transition from traditional to digital photography, today announced that it has raised $31.5 million in its second round of venture capital financing, bringing the total investment in the company to more than $37 million.
This is the single largest amount ever raised by an Austin-based technology company.
The financing was led by Technology Crossover Ventures, with additional venture and private funds from Amerindo Investment Advisors, JW Seligman & CO, Triton Ventures, Hambrecht & Quist, Sculley Brothers, and others. Original investors, Sevin Rosen Funds, InterWest Partners and Centerpoint Ventures also elected to reinvest in this round of financing.
The agent for this round of financing was Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.
"Investors' interest was high because ASF is on its way to revolutionizing the traditional photo market. Its exceptional technology is enabling widespread conversion to digital images and is being embraced by manufacturers worldwide," said Clark Spurrier, a principal at Morgan Stanley.
"We are excited to be at the forefront of this emerging technology with an opportunity to ensure ASF has the resources to aggressively pursue its market potential."
"The additional funding will enable ASF to expand our engineering, licensing and branding, as well as to aggressively bring new digital imaging technologies to market," said Mark Urdahl, president and CEO of ASF.
"Our Intellectual Property business model, branding and licensing strategies are very compelling. We know that our award- winning technologies will define the future of the film and digital markets, and the confidence of our investors validates this."
As the market demand grows for digital processes in the computer and scanner industries, ASF and its technologies are poised to seize the lion's share of the market. With at least 450 billion photographic consumer images estimated to be in storage worldwide, demand for digital imaging products is being driven by more users seeking capabilities to duplicate, enhance, distribute or store their images in digital form.
"Our technologically superior imaging solutions allow end users to efficiently optimize and enhance the quality of the digital images we produce," continued Urdahl. "We believe that we are uniquely positioned to provide innovative technologies to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) seeking to capitalize on new growth opportunities in a rapidly changing digital imaging industry."
ASF's award-winning Digital ICE(tm) (Image Correction Enhancement) technology offers the first ever direct-to-digital imaging solution. Digital ICE provides unparalleled accuracy by automatically, and instantly, removing surface defects on images during the film scanning process, without altering the underlying image in any way.
Digital ICE(tm) is the first of three technologies to be introduced by ASF and is being accepted as an emerging standard by major imaging manufacturers.
Currently, the Digital ICE(tm) technology has been licensed by Kodak for its Picture Maker Kiosk and the Kodak DLS Operating System and Application software sold to manufacturers of commercial photo processing equipment. Digital ICE(tm) debuted on the Nikon SuperCoolscan 2000 scanner and the CoolScan III.
Other manufacturers have also licensed Digital ICE(tm) and will be announcing products in the next few months.
About Applied Science Fiction
Applied Science Fiction, based in Austin, is an emerging technology company founded in 1995, and employs 56 people. The company licenses and brands its technology through OEMs and software companies that provide products for professional, retail and consumer imaging markets. ASF's first technology, Digital ICE, has been widely endorsed by the imaging marketplace and has won many industry awards for innovation and technology.
Note to Editors: Digital ICE and Applied Science Fiction are trademarks of Applied Science Fiction. All other trade names, trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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CONTACT: Applied Science Fiction Inc., Austin
Mary Browning, 512/651-6212
mary@asf.com
or
MS&L Global Technology
Anne Marie Furie, 805/230-8203
afurie@msltech.com
or
S.I.R. Marketing Communications
Steven Rosenbaum, 516/757-5665
srosenba@ix.netcom.com
KEYWORD: TEXAS
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED MANAGEMENT CHANGES
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