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Microcosm Lands $4.75M In Funding Former Cadence chief Costello invests Raleigh, N.C.--Venture funding with a twist. Microcosm Technologies closed a $4.75 million venture financing agreement with Telos Venture Partners, Santa Clara Calif., and Wakefield Group, Charlotte, N.C., bringing the company's venture funding total to 6.7 million. The investment of Joe Costello, former Cadence Design Systems CEO and current chairman and managing director of Cad.Lab, Inc., provides the twist. The new investment will be used to expand the sales and marketing of the company's MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) CAD software and FlumeCAD, (Fluid Molecular CAD) software for the bio-chip/lab-on-a-chip market. According to CEO Michael Jamiolkowski, Microcosm will bolster its sales staff both domestically and internationally with 15 new hires by the end of the first quarter, bringing the company's total to 50. Microcosm expects to increase its European sales presence and expand its applications engineering through the financing. Microcosm recently launched a subsidiary in the Netherlands to better serve the European market. Microcosm already has a direct sales force in the U.S. and a relationship with Marubeni of Japan for the Asia/Pacific region. Jamiolkowski sees each market as one-third of the company's total market. The new staff will represent a mix of representatives and executives with the MEMS CAD supplier seeking a VP of marketing and a European sales director. By fiscal 1999's end, Jamiolkowski expects Microcosm's workforce to reach 65. In addition to staffing, a significant part of the investment will be used to enable foundry infrastructure with methodologies, tools and services via Microcosm's professional services organization. Financing from Costello Also participating in the financing was first round investor North Carolina Enterprise Corporation, Raleigh, NC, and Joe Costello, chairman and managing director of Cad.Lab. While at Cadence, Costello "recognized MEMS as being the next wave in technology," said Costello in a statement. He has served as a personal advisor to Jamoilkowski as well as a strategic advisor to the company. His involvement beyond strategic advisor may change in the future, acknowledged Microcosm. Although no plans or details have been made and his exact relationship with the company remains confidential. "A significant amount of our new funding will be slated for the expansion of activities in our Professional Services organization," said Jamiolkowski. The company recently added senior executive Jeff Hilbert as vp of professional services to lead in this area. "Over the past two years we discovered a strong demand for MEMS-based solutions, but a lack of design expertise and infrastructure to facilitate MEMS prototyping and manufacturing," said Jamiolkowski. Microcosm's service staff will work with foundries and packaging vendors to ensure that qualified processes and methodologies are in place for the design of MEMS-enabled systems. Microcosm plans to widen key customer relationships and strategic partnerships with both MEMS software and service solutions. |