3/14/2001
BOTHELL, Wash., March 14 /PRNewswire/ — Optical networking components
developer Lumera Corporation (http://www.lumera.com), a subsidiary of Microvision,Inc. (Nasdaq: MVIS), announced today that it will complete a $24 million round of financing led by Cisco Systems, Inc.
Lumera is developing a new generation of unique active and passive
components for optical networks that are expected to deliver increased
bandwidth at very competitive costs while requiring less power than current
devices. The company says that its technology also sets the stage for
integrated optical systems-on-a-chip. Lumera’s component development is based
on proprietary electro-optic polymer materials developed by the company and
its research partners at the University of Washington. According to industry
analysts, the market for fiber-optic components is expected to show dramatic
growth from $5.5 billion today to nearly $23 billion by 2003 and to
$150 billion by 2005.
This round of financing marks the first investment in Lumera by investors
outside of Microvision, which has provided seed financing for the subsidiary
since its inception. The company will use the proceeds to continue its
research and development activities and to position the company to begin
commercializing its technology beginning as early as mid-2002. In addition to
Cisco, investors in the round include The Barksdale Group, Acorn Ventures, WRF
Capital, former CEO of XO Communications and Lumera board member Wayne Perry,
Qualcomm co-founder and former Vice Chairman Andrew Viterbi, Microvision board
member Margaret Elardi, and a group of prominent Northwest angel investors.
“This has been a wonderfully successful financing with a strong group of
seasoned investors that offer real strategic value-added,” said Lumera
Chairman William Owens. “We continue to make outstanding progress at Lumera,
and the addition of substantial capital invested by people with tremendous
industry presence and expertise can only accelerate that progress. We intend
to be the first company to successfully commercialize polymer-based
electro-optic devices that we believe can ultimately redefine performance and
cost in the space.”
Lumera plans to market its unique, high performance optical components to
providers of optical networking systems equipment. The company expects to make
prototype devices available to customers for testing during 2001 with
commercial production scheduled to begin during 2002. Prototype devices based
on materials developed by Lumera’s research team have already achieved
record-setting bandwidth (in excess of 100 GHz) and operating voltages
(below 1 volt) in demonstrations at commercial and government research labs.
About Microvision
Headquartered in Bothell, Wash., Microvision, Inc. is the developer of the
patented retinal scanning display technology and a world leader in micro
miniature optical scanning technology for display and imaging applications.
The company’s technology has application in a broad range of military,
medical, industrial, professional and consumer information products.
Additional information can be found at the company’s Web site at
http://www.mvis.com.
Forward-Looking Statement
The information set forth in this release includes “forward-looking
statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934, as amended, and is subject to the safe harbor created thereby. Such
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and
other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from future
results expressed or implied in such statements. These risks and uncertainties
include the company’s failure to successfully develop or commercialize
polymer-based electro-optical devices, the enhancement or development of
substitute technologies by the company’s competitors, the inability of the
company to secure beta test users for its prospective prototypes or customers
for its commercial products, and other factors set forth in Microvision’s
Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company disclaims any obligation
to update any such factors or to publicly announce the results of any
revisions to any of the forward-looking statements contained in this news
release.