LONGMONT, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May 28, 2003–Cornice Inc., an innovator in compact, high-capacity storage, today announced that the Company closed $22 million in venture capital funding in August2002. The Company received its first venture investment from CIBC Capital Partners, Nokia Venture Partners and VantagePoint Venture Partners. Early investors in Cornice include the company’sfounders, management team, and Texas Instruments.
Cornice was formed in August 2000 by Curt Bruner, CTO, and Kevin Magenis, president & CEO; both veterans of the PC-oriented storage industry. Cornice was established to provide a new class of portable storage solutions for consumer electronics and pocket-able entertainment and computing devices. The Company has also developed a successful manufacturing model with SAE, a subsidiary of TDK.
“We are excited by the endorsement Cornice has been given with the active involvement and strong backing of such top-level venture investment firms,” said Kevin Magenis, Cornice president & CEO. “This investment coupled with our engineering expertise, and the team’s product vision, provide us with the confidence that Cornice will be successful in addressing the needs of the high-volume, cost-competitive markets that it has chosen to support.”
Top Technology Venture Finance Firms Voice Support for Cornice
CIBC Capital Partners
“CIBC Capital Partners invests in well-managed companies that demonstrate strong engineering, successful business acumen and significant market-altering potential,” said Norm Kumar, Executive Director, CIBC Capital Partners. “Cornice amply exhibits all three of these key qualities and we look forward to working with the company more closely as it opens new markets and changes existing ones.”
Nokia Venture Partners
“We believe that the Cornice technology has the potential to provide a breakthrough in the capabilities of applications for handheld devices,” said Peter Buhl, Partner, Nokia Venture Partners. “We anticipate that the new, unique, storage model they have developed as the technology will make a truly multi-functional lower price point portable a reality for tomorrow’s consumers.”
VantagePoint Venture Partners
“We believe that Cornice’s seasoned management team and their strong storage industry track record offer an incredibly compelling formula for success,” said Melissa Crane, Partner, VantagePoint Venture Partners. “By addressing the demanding storage requirements for mobile devices from a consumer’s point of view, Cornice has a tremendous opportunity to leverage the increasing appetite for portable storage in products ranging from specialty electronics items to very-high-volume consumer products.”
About the Investors
CIBC Capital Partners
CIBC Capital Partners is a leading North American merchant bank and part of CIBC World Markets, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s investment bank. CIBC Capital Partners is invested in over 240 companies and in approximately 150 private equity funds around the world, with total commitments in excess of $5.5 billion. CIBC Capital Partners’ merchant banking activities include private equity investments in venture capital, leveraged buyouts, and other special situations.
Nokia Venture Partners
Nokia Venture Partners is a leading global venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California. Backed by a number of value add limited partners, the fund leads investments in early stage mobile technology companies around the world. Launched in 1998, Nokia Venture Partners has a strong track record of leveraging its combined resources, experience and contacts to help build successful mobile businesses. The firm also has offices in Washington DC, London, Helsinki, Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo. For more information, visit http://www.nokiaventurepartners.com.
VantagePoint Venture Partners
VantagePoint Venture Partners is one of the nation’s largest venture capital firms, with $2.5 billion in committed capital in four funds. The Firm is an active multi-stage investor, providing funding and resources for all stages of a company’s lifecycle from seed round through late stage and privately negotiated investments in public companies.
VantagePoint is based on a full-service Partner-Team approach that provides entrepreneurs with a blend of technology, venture capital, operations, marketing, and corporate-finance expertise. As hands-on investors, the Firm is focused on technology investing in communications, semiconductor, software, and related growth industries.
About Cornice
Privately held, Cornice maintains headquarters in Longmont, Colo. Visit Cornice at http://www.corniceco.com/.
