Cognex Corporation Announces Venture Investment Program.

NATICK, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 3, 1999--Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX), the world's leading supplier of machine vision systems, today announced the formation of Cognex Vision Ventures, a program under which Cognex will make strategic equity investments in companies developing unique machine vision products and technologies. Cognex will collaborate with these firms on both technology and market development, and may later consider these companies as candidates for acquisition.

"There is enormous opportunity for applying machine vision to virtually every aspect of industrial, commercial, and consumer life," comments David Schatz, Cognex's Vice President of Corporate Development. "These potential applications are too numerous and diverse for Cognex to exploit alone. The Vision Ventures Program will enable Cognex to leverage the expertise of small companies who are developing specialized technology and application know-how to serve niche markets."

Cognex will invest primarily in companies developing special-purpose vision systems for industrial and commercial applications which will use Cognex vision hardware and core software as the platform for their machine vision solutions. As a secondary goal, Cognex will also seek to invest in companies that are developing complementary machine vision related products such as image sensors, specialized vision software, or proprietary optics and illumination technologies. In such cases, Cognex may also engage in joint distribution or product development with the target company.

Cognex will invest in companies in their early stages of development as well as in more mature companies that may want to use machine vision to enter new product areas or to modernize product lines. Cognex will also invest alongside venture capital companies, who will benefit from Cognex's technical and marketing expertise in evaluating machine vision related technologies and business opportunities.

In January, Cognex announced its first strategic partner under this new program. Avalon Imaging is a leading supplier of special-purpose vision systems for the plastic injection molding industry. The partnership includes an OEM agreement in which Cognex provides the core vision technology for Avalon Imaging's next-generation systems, and a $1 million equity investment by Cognex which will be used to help to fund Avalon's product development efforts and to expand their marketing and support channels.

Cognex Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and markets machine vision systems, or computers that can "see." Cognex is the world's leader in the machine vision industry, having shipped to date more than 75,000 machine vision systems. Cognex's Modular Vision Systems Division, headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, specializes in machine vision systems which are used for automating the manufacture of a wide range of discrete items and for assuring their quality. Cognex's Surface Inspection Systems Division, headquartered in Alameda, California, specializes in machine vision systems which are used for inspecting the surfaces of products manufactured in a continuous fashion, such as metals, paper, and plastics. In addition to its corporate headquarters in Natick, Massachusetts, Cognex also has regional offices located throughout North America, Japan, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Visit Cognex on-line at http://www.cognex.com.