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BA Venture Partners Seizes Opportunities in Growing Consumer Electronics Market
Venture Firm Backing Innovative Companies with Advanced Technologies in Consumer Electronics Market
FOSTER CITY, Calif., February 18, 2004 - BA Venture Partners, a venture capital partnership, today announced its ongoing commitment to investing in companies involved in the rapidly growing Consumer Electronics market. BA Venture Partners led the recent $51 million financing of Cornice Inc., an innovator in compact, high-capacity storage, and the recent $10.5 million round for Xceive, a leading-edge developer of semiconductors for TVs, cell phones, and other innovative mainstream Consumer Electronics devices. In total, BA Venture Partners has led investment rounds in Consumer Electronics companies totaling more than $142 million. "For new companies to succeed today they need to have breakthrough technology and to be focused on a market that has both hyper-growth and significant change and turmoil," said Jim Jones director of BA Venture Partners. "We are excited about the Consumer Electronics market because it delivers both of these elements. It has the growth resulting from the explosion of mainstream consumer devices from cell phones and MP3 players to personal digital video recorders and digital still cameras, and the turmoil created by the convergence of these functions and devices." The Consumer Electronics market is very different than it was five years ago. A driving force behind the change is the fact that technologies from different fields, such as telecommunications, defense, and personal computing, are now being applied to Consumer Electronics. A combination of flat growth in these other markets and lower costs of manufacturing have enabled these technologies to be cost-effectively applied to Consumer Electronics where there is the potential for significant new applications and volume shipments. "Consumers demand more functionality from devices today, and technology not only needs to keep up, but stay ahead of consumer demand. We are looking to invest in companies with breakthrough technology that provides dramatic functional improvement at a significant cost advantage," said John Dougery, managing director of BA Venture Partners. "We invest in companies of all stages from early to late stage as long as they are addressing a market with high growth opportunity." While the Consumer Electronics market continues to grow, BA Venture Partners is not new to the space. The team at BA Venture Partners brings a wealth of experience and knowledge that enables them to identify promising companies and technologies. BA Venture Partners has invested in seven companies in the Consumer Electronics space since 2000, including four new lead investments during 2003: Ageia - A semiconductor company integrating new technologies from several fields onto a single System On a Chip (SOC) for Consumer Electronics. Cornice - Inventor of the compact, high-capacity Cornice Storage Element. Entone - A company delivering software components and solutions for personalized television services. Monolithic Power Systems (MPS) - A leading supplier of power management semiconductor solutions for Consumer Electronics. mBlox - A leading global provider of SMS (Short Messaging Services) infrastructure services to the content and applications industry. Xceive - A leading-edge developer of semiconductors for TVs, cell phones, and other innovative Consumer Electronics devices. ZoneLabs - A leading creator of consumer PC security solutions. "We believe the Consumer Electronics market will continue to grow for the foreseeable future as new technologies change the way we live and work," Dougery added. "BA Venture Partners is committed to identifying and backing companies that will lead and innovate in this exciting market." About BA Venture Partners BA Venture Partners, a venture capital partnership, leads start-up to expansion stage investments in networking, semiconductor, software, medical technology and biotechnology companies. The firm closed BA Venture Partners VI, a $500 million fund, in 2000. BA Venture Partners' sole limited partner is Bank of America. Visit their website at www.BAVenturePartners.com. # # # Contact Information:
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