Celerica Raises Over $18 Million for Wireless Investment-Protection Solution That Maximizes Capacity of Cellular Networks.Business and Technology Editors CTIA (1) See CompTIA. (2) (Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, Washington, DC, www.ctia.org, www.wow-com.com) A membership organization founded in 1984 that is involved with regulatory and public affairs issues in the wireless industry. Wireless 2002 MORRISTOWN, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 19, 2002 Pitango Venture Capital Leads Round, with Investments from Charles River Charles River River, eastern Massachusetts, U.S. The longest river wholly in the state, it flows into Boston Bay after a course of about 80 mi (130 km). Navigable for about 7 mi (11 km), its estuary separates the cities of Boston and Cambridge. Ventures, Platinum Venture Capital, Ridgewood Capital, and STAR Ventures Celerica(TM), Inc., a wireless infrastructure start up, today announced the details of its second round of funding. Leading the round of over $18 million was Pitango Venture Capital of Tel Aviv Tel Aviv (tĕl əvēv`), city (1994 pop. 355,200), W central Israel, on the Mediterranean Sea. Oficially named Tel Aviv–Jaffa, it is Israel's commercial, financial, communications, and cultural center and the core of its largest , Israel. Other investors include Charles River Ventures, Platinum Venture Capital, Ridgewood Capital, and STAR Ventures, as well as the private investors that participated in the initial funding of the Company. The total funding raised to date is over $20 million. Celerica's products maximize the capacity of existing wireless infrastructure in urban areas, enabling mobile operators to add cellular sites less expensively and in hours as opposed to the previous norm of much lengthier time frames and at higher costs. The company was founded in June 2000 and will unveil its solutions for the first time at their Rosen Centre Hotel hospitality suite during the CTIA trade show, March 18-20 in Orlando, Fla. Isaac Hillel, Managing Director of Pitango Venture Capital said, "Celerica is providing an innovative way to design cellular networks more economically and more efficiently. We believe that Celerica delivers the type of solutions that operators want today and in years to come." "Carriers are struggling to quickly deliver additional capacity and services for their ever-increasing customer bases," said Bruce Sachs, general partner for Charles River Ventures. "Celerica's business proposition is extremely compelling in its ability to address these carrier needs with pragmatic solutions today." Anya Eldan, Manager Partner of Platinum Venture Capital said, "Greenfield 3G operators will find Celerica's technology compelling in building optimized network grids." "Celerica's distributed cell site architecture allows both incumbent and new cellular providers to lower their cost of cellular build out while leveraging existing infrastructure," said Elton Sherwin, senior managing director, Ridgewood Capital. "Celerica understands the challenges faced by mobile carriers that need to quickly provide additional cellular capacity in urban areas," said Miguel Cizin, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Celerica. "Our solutions deliver speed and flexibility, are compatible with all cellular and PCS (1) (Personal Communications Services) Refers to wireless services that emerged after the U.S. government auctioned commercial licenses in 1994 and 1995. This radio spectrum in the 1. technologies, and leverage the carrier's existing infrastructure ensuring investment protection now and in the future." In addition to Cizin, Celerica board members include Matt Desch, Chairman of Airspan Networks, Bruce Sachs, Charles River Ventures, Isaac Hillel, Pitango Venture Capital, and Pini Sabach, president and founder of Celerica. About Pitango Venture Capital Pitango, (formerly Polaris Venture Capital), which manages the largest fund in Israel, is a leading venture capital firm investing in Israel, the U.S. and Europe. It specializes in providing long-term support and value-added services A value-added service (VAS) is a telecommunications industry term for non-core services or, in short, all services beyond standard voice calls and fax transmissions. to its portfolio companies. Pitango, with offices in Tel Aviv, Silicon Valley and London, currently manages several venture funds totaling over $700 million in committed capital invested in more than 80 companies. Pitango's focus is on seed to late-stage companies in the fields of communications, software and Internet infrastructure, semiconductors, medical technology and healthcare. More information about Pitango is available at www.pitango.com About Charles River Ventures Founded in 1970, Charles River Ventures (CRV CRV Curve CRV Crew Return Vehicle (NASA) CRV California Redemption Value CRV Cassa Di Risparmio Di Vignola (Italian bank) CRV Call Reference Value (telecommunications) ) is one of the nation's oldest and most successful early-stage venture capital firms Name Location Founding date Managing Partners/Directors Specialty Capital managed 5AM Ventures Menlo Park, CA; Waltham, MA 2002 John Diekman, PhD (managing partner), Scott Rocklage, PhD (managing partner), Andrew Schwab (managing partner) life sciences $200M [1] with $2 billion under management. CRV is dedicated to helping exceptional entrepreneurs turn their ideas into the next category leaders in the data communications data communications, application of telecommunications technology to the problem of transmitting data, especially to, from, or between computers. In popular usage, it is said that data communications make it possible for one computer to "talk" with another. and software & services sectors. To build these companies, CRV provides entrepreneurs with access to a unique combination of financial backing, startup operations expertise and strategic business services. Over the past 10 years, CRV funds have been ranked among the industry's top performers. This superior investment record includes leading companies such as Cascade, Chipcom, CIENA, iBasis, Sonus Networks, SpeechWorks International and Vignette Vignette A symbol or pictorial representation of the corporation on a stock certificate. Usually a complicated and artistic design, it is meant to make the counterfeiting of stock certificates as difficult as possible. . CRV has offices in Boston, MA and Menlo Park Menlo Park. 1 Residential city (1990 pop. 28,040), San Mateo co., W Calif.; inc. 1874. Electronic equipment and aerospace products are manufactured in the city. Menlo College and a Stanford Univ. research institute are there. 2 Uninc. , CA. For more information visit www.crv.com. About Platinum Venture Capital Platinum Venture Capital is the biggest Venture Capital Fund from the public investment company Shrem Fudim Kelner Technologies. Platinum manages total capital of over $100M of which over half are available for new investments. Platinum is managed by Dr. Shuki Gleitman, former Chief Scientist, and by Ms. Anya Eldan, who served in senior management positions in high-tech industry. Platinum invests in Telecommunications, IT and semiconductors, but is also seeking exceptional technologies in less conventional fields. The Fund invests in early stage high-tech companies, mainly in the initial sales. Platinum has strong commercial ties to Asia, with its main investors being Keppel T&T from Singapore and Vista from Taiwan. About Ridgewood Capital Ridgewood Capital is a technology venture capital firm. Ridgewood's investment team, comprised of executives with experience at leading technology companies and investment banks The following is a list of investment banks Financial conglomerates Large financial-services conglomerates combine commercial banking and investment banking, and sometimes insurance. , brings operational, technical and financial expertise to its portfolio companies. Ridgewood Capital's highly focused investment strategy is to build a diverse portfolio of premier technology companies in sectors where the partners have direct, relevant experience and that promise the most growth over the next several years including: Communications, Semiconductors, Software and Optical Networking Communications between computers, telephones and other electronic devices using light. An optical network is far more reliable and has far greater potential transmission capacity than networking in the electrical domain. See optical fiber. . Ridgewood Capital is part of the Ridgewood Companies, which were founded in 1982 and have a proven 20-year track record across multiple industries. Ridgewood Capital has offices located in Ridgewood, New Jersey Ridgewood is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the village population was 24,936. The Village of Ridgewood was created on November 20, 1894, with the same boundaries as Ridgewood Township. and Palo Alto, California “Palo Alto” redirects here. For other uses, see Palo Alto (disambiguation). Palo Alto (IPA: /ˌpæloʊˈʔæltoʊ/, from Spanish: palo: "stick" and alto: "high", i.e. . For more information, visit www.ridgewoodcapital.com. About STAR Ventures STAR Ventures (STAR) is an international venture capital company that invests in early-stage, high-tech companies in Israel, Germany, and the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . STAR focuses on companies that are already active internationally or are preparing to establish international business activities. STAR currently holds close to one billion US$ under management, and has invested in more than 150 companies, thirty-three of which are traded on the NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on stock exchange in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , and the Neuer Markt in Frankfurt. The focus of STAR's investment interest is information technologies, with an emphasis on communications. Additional investment areas include medical devices, enterprise software, Internet infrastructure, and industrial technologies. STAR is headquartered in Munich, Germany, with offices in Herzliya, Israel, and Dallas, USA. About Celerica Headquartered in Morristown, N.J., with research and development in Israel, Celerica is committed to helping mobile operators address the challenge of adding cellular capacity in urban areas while protecting their existing and future investments. For more information about Celerica, please visit www.celerica.com. Note to editors: Charles River Ventures and CRVelocity are service marks of Charles River Ventures, Inc. Trademarks and registered trademarks referenced herein remain the property of their respective owners. To book an appointment with Celerica at the CTIA Show, please contact The Devon Group. |
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