PRESS RELEASE
G2 Microsystems Inc announces investment by Starfish Ventures & DB Capital Partners
Oakland, CA -- 9 March 2005 -- G2 Microsystems Inc, an early stage fabless semiconductor company that is developing integrated circuits specifically for the active asset tracking and telemetry markets, today announced the closing of a +$US6 million investment round with new investors Starfish Ventures and return backers DB Capital Partners, the private equity and venture capital arm of Deutsche Asset Management (Australia) Ltd.
John Gloekler, Chief Executive Officer and President of G2 Microsystems, said, "We are pleased to have broadened our shareholder base to now include Starfish Ventures. This further investment round will enable G2 Microsystems to complete the development of its engineering samples and increase its customer development and support activities."
"G2 Microsystems' world class team and strong technology leadership position the company very well to cost effectively meet the growing market need for asset tracking solutions", Malcolm Thornton of Starfish Ventures said. Mr Thornton has joined the Board of Directors of G2 Microsystems.
Matthew Koertge of DB Capital Partners, who also serves on the Board of G2 Microsystems, commented, "G2 Microsystems has achieved a number of impressive technical milestones and has made significant progress with prospective customers since we invested in May last year."
G2 Microsystems aims to be a leader in asset tracking technology by providing customers with a unique set of tracking capabilities not found in other location based services or telemetry solutions. These capabilities include:
- Indoor and outdoor asset tracking with high reliability;
- Low power consumption;
- Low Total Cost of Ownership;
- Small form factor; and
- High reliability.
These capabilities will allow customers to track valuable assets throughout the world and monitor their location and condition. G2 Microsystems' is delivering these capabilities with its SmarTag(tm) solution: an intelligent tag that can be used at the person, asset, pallet, or container level to track its location; monitor its inventory and environmental conditions - including security sensors; store relevant data; and communicate of all this information transparently to multiple parties over the internet.
A number of the founders and engineers of G2 Microsystems were previously from Radiata, Inc, a successful Australian technology company that was acquired in late 2000 by Cisco Systems, Inc.
About G2 Microsystems
G2 Microsystems designs low cost, low power integrated circuits that provide ubiquitous asset tracking solutions leveraging existing infrastructure. G2 Microsystems partners with RFID hardware and software manufacturers, enterprise application developers, and asset tracking service providers to deliver a low cost, reliable asset tracking solution for the supply chain and asset management.
About Starfish Ventures
Established in 2001, Starfish Ventures is an Australian owned venture capital fund manager seeking superior returns through active investment in innovative technology companies. Starfish Ventures manages funds with committed capital of approximately $150 million and invests in all technology sectors including, information and communications technology, biotechnology and life sciences, industrial technology and material sciences. The team's track record includes Australian technology success stories Resmed, Moldflow, Preston Aviation Solutions and Sirtex Medical. For more information visit www.starfishventures.com.au.
About DB Capital Partners
DB Capital Partners is one of Australia's largest managers of private equity and is responsible for the management of more than $1.9 billion in funds, including venture capital, on behalf of its clients - primarily blue chip pension funds - and Deutsche Bank itself. The DB Capital Partners team currently comprises 18 investment professionals and has the capacity to invest from $2 million to over $50 million in deals across all stages and industry sectors. For more information, please visit www.dbcapitalpartners.australia.db.com.
