May 26 2005
InPhase Technologies, a holographic data storage drive and media development company, today announced that it has closed a $32.1 million third round of funding. Bayer MaterialScience AG, a market and technology leader in developing polymers for optical data storage, represents a new strategic investor as well as development partner for InPhase. Nanotech Partners Ltd., another new investor, is a leading venture capital firm sponsored by Mitsubishi Corporation, focusing on emerging nanotechnology at the global level. New Venture Partners LLC and existing investors Hitachi Maxell Ltd., ALPS Information Technology Fund LP, Yasuda Enterprise Development Co., and Japan Asia Investment Co. continued their strong financial support of InPhase in Series C.
The new funds will be used to complete the commercialization of the world’s first holographic data storage drive and media. The initial product will hold 300 gigabytes (GB) of data with a transfer rate of 20 megabytes (MB) per second. The Tapestry media and drive provide customers with access to huge amounts of data on a single disk. InPhase is targeting archive needs in commercial markets such as professional video, regulatory compliance, medical imaging, satellite imaging, and scientific applications where the need for long-term, secure and cost effective archives of massive amounts of digital data is a critical issue.
"The recent public demonstration by InPhase of the world’s first commercial holographic drive prototype validated our technical leadership in the holographic data storage market. Now, with the commitment and support of our investors, we have funds to move from technology leadership to commercial leadership," said Nelson Diaz, president and CEO of InPhase Technologies. "The tremendous interest in the InPhase Tapestry product from the professional video community at the recent National Association of Broadcasters convention was extremely positive and confirmed the insatiable demand for a secure archive solution for digital media assets."
New Venture Partners LLC is the lead investor for Series C and demonstrated their continued support with a substantial investment in this round. They also led the second round that closed in 2004. "InPhase has consistently demonstrated its ability to advance to market commercial holographic drives and media, for which the storage industry has been waiting 20 years. We are excited about the great customer interest we are seeing for these products," said Steve Socolof, managing partner of New Venture Partners LLC. "The proper combination of solid institutional and strategic financial partners now enables InPhase to execute the final plan that brings this revolutionary data storage technology to market."
Bayer MaterialScience AG and InPhase have signed a joint development agreement for the development and supply of polymer raw materials used in the production of holographic storage media. In addition, Bayer MaterialScience has acquired a license to use the results from jointly developed research for applications that extend beyond the field of holographic storage media.
http://www.inphase-technologies.com/