COPENHAGEN, Denmark, July 24, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Olicom A/S (OTC Bulletin Board:OLCMF) ("Olicom" or "the Company") today announced that it has provided series A funding for the optical technology start-up, Hymite ApS. The funding has been provided in syndication with a group of international venture capitalists also comprising Dansk Kapitalanlaeg, Vertex Management and VaekstFonden. Olicom has committed DKK 13 million ($1.5 million) of the group's total commitment of DKK 46 million ($5.3 million) to be paid in three trances. In exchange for Olicom's initial investment of DKK 5 million, the Company will receive a 13 percent holding of the shares in Hymite.
Hymite will provide complete solutions for manufacturing and packaging optical modules deployed within the high growth telecommunications market. Hymite's concept for multifunctional optical modules will provide drastic cost savings compared to existing state-of-the-art technologies where components are deployed separately.
"Current manufacturing of optical communication equipment is similar to the manual assembly of discrete transistors, resistors and other electronic components back in the 1960's. Linking several components, such as lasers and arrayed waveguide gratings, into a single optical module, will revolutionize manufacturing of optical components in the same way printed circuit boards have changed the way electronics systems are built," says Jochen Kuhmann, founder and CEO of Hymite.
"The key to success in the optical telecommunication equipment market is going to be cost-effectiveness, and this is where Hymite's technology comes in," says Boje Rinhart, President and CEO of Olicom. "There is a strong demand for Hymite's technology from the many new and established companies who manufacture optical telecommunications equipment."
Hymite has been established through the Danish business incubator CAT Innovation A/S and is situated at the Danish Technical University close to the autonomous research centers MIC and COM. "Hymite builds on the substantial basis of knowledge within optical component technology that has been built over the years at Danish and German universities and research centers," says Niels Kristian Agner, CEO of Dansk Kapitalanlaeg.
The optical industry is faced with a challenge of moving to more effective assembly technologies of optical sub systems. "Hymite presents a unique opportunity to help automate manufacturing of next generation optical sub-systems. Analysts forecast a multi-billion dollar market space within the next 2-3 years and Hymite is well positioned to gain from this universal industry push," says Steen Lohse, Investment Director for Singapore based Vertex Management.