Candera Receives Additional Venture Funding; Two New Investors to Deliver Access to Lucrative Asian Market.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 4, 2003

Candera Inc., a developer of next-generation network-based storage management platforms, today announced that it has received an additional $2.5 million of venture funding, bringing its total funding to date to more than $47 million. The investment, by AsiaTech Management LLC and Hotung Capital Management, Inc., is an extension of a second round of capital funding originally closed in May 2002.

"We are delighted to welcome AsiaTech and Hotung to the Candera team," said S. "Sundi" Sundaresh, president and CEO of Candera. "At a time when venture funding is down sharply, their decision to invest in Candera is another validation of our market opportunity and our unique approach to solving customer pains in storage networking. In addition, these investors are strategic for us because their extensive connections in Asia will assist Candera in gaining entry into the lucrative, high-growth Asian market."

AsiaTech Management, headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. and Taiwan, is backed by Asia-based multinational companies, financial institutions and governments. AsiaTech invests in Silicon Valley companies and helps them to expand into the burgeoning Asia Pacific market through its extensive networks in the industry and local government.

Hotung Capital, which is part of Hotung Group, one of the top three venture capital firms in Taiwan, specializes in developing inter-regional cooperation by identifying investment opportunities with high-potential startups in key product areas. Hotung Capital is based in California's Silicon Valley, with a significant presence in Asia.

AsiaTech and Hotung Capital join an elite group of investors such as Redpoint Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Venture Strategy Partners, Comcast Interactive Capital and Seagate Technology Investment Holdings LLC, among others. In addition to providing financial backing, these investors add considerable value to Candera by complementing the company's seasoned executive team and leveraging their vast network to open doors to additional business opportunities.

"In a crowded market such as this, it was absolutely critical to cut through the hype and identify those companies with real substance and potential," said Brian Ann, vice president of Hotung Capital. "We invested in Candera because it was clear that their approach resonates with end-users, as evidenced by the traction they are getting with Fortune 1000 customers." "We studied quite a few companies in this space," said Louie Liu, a partner at AsiaTech. "And we like Candera because it has the right technology, world-class engineering talent, and strong leadership in its management team and board. We also believe the Candera product has considerable growth potential in Asia."

Candera continues to be seen as a bright spot in a highly competitive market that is developing disruptive technology that will place provisioning and virtualization intelligence in storage networks. The company, featuring a world-class "brain trust" of storage, storage management and storage networking experts, will use the newly raised capital to fund product and market development programs.

About Candera

Candera Inc., a development stage, stealth mode company founded in 2000, is building the first of a new generation of systems that will enable customers to achieve the full promise of networked information storage. Candera is a member of the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). Candera is headquartered in Milpitas, Calif., and is on the web at www.candera.com