Update on Investments
Brainspark PLC
29 March 2006
For immediate release 29 March 2006
BRAINSPARK PLC ('Brainspark' or the Company')
Update on Investments
Brainspark announces that it has agreed to invest $100,000 (£57,000) in
Polarizonics Corp. ('PL') a Delaware corporation.
Dr. Oron Zachar, founder of PL, has developed a method of potentially increasing
the data storage capacity and read rate of both red and blue laser DVDs by up to
three times, and which is described as Polar High-definition DVD (PH-DVD)
Technology. This technology exploits the polarization element contained in all
current DVD formats not being used for the physical encoding of the information
on the disc to significantly increase both the speed and capacity of DVDs.
Applications have been made for patents in respect of this technology.
Brainspark will invest $100,000 (£57,000) in Series B preferred Polarizonics
Stock representing a holding of 22,941 shares or approximately 1.96% of the
enlarged issued share capital of the company. The price is based on a
pre-investment valuation of $5,000,000 (£2,850,000) or $4.359 (£2.485) per
share. This investment is part of a funding round raising $250,000 (£142,000)
for PL in total, with $695,000 (£396,000) having already been raised with
private US investors.
Brainspark has been awarded a transferable option for an additional sum of
$50,000 (£28,500) which expires on 15th July 2006, under the same terms of the
current Series B Preferred Shares.
Francesco Gardin, Brainspark chairman commented: 'This is Brainspark's first new
portfolio company investment since 2003. It is an early stage investment in very
high-risk technology and is in line with the declared strategy of the venture
capital side of our business. This investment, made in conjunction with a number
of sophisticated US private investors, is an indication of the new network of
relationships established by the Brainspark Board which is central to our
strategy of both identifying selected investment opportunities globally and
raising the necessary seed capital.'
Mr Gardin adds: 'We believe that Polarizonics Technology, developed by leading
scientists, could have a significant impact on the development of high
definition DVDs. Nevertheless, the Board is aware that this is a high-risk
investment given the highly competitive nature of this market.'
Contact: Francesco Gardin, Brainspark PLC on 00 39 335 296573
Roland Cornish, Beaumont Cornish Limited on 020 7628 3396.
Background on Polarizonics Corp.
Polarizonics Technology (PT) simply introduces optical modulation and detection
mechanisms to employ the polarization characteristics which, although are
present, are currently unused in physical disc formats. Importantly Polarizonics
Technology requires no change in the disc structure itself, and present mass
replication equipment can be used without modification or additional costs.
Hence, PT can be brought to market within a very short time scale.
The PH-DVD format can applied as a modification to increase the data read rate
and capacity of any of the competing blue laser formats (such as Sony Blu-Ray
and Toshiba HD-DVD). Moreover, the Polarizonics Technology may provide for a
red-laser capability to support HD content. Thus, with the potential for over
100GB discs, this innovation is of particular importance for satisfying the
coming demands of increased disc capacity of HD video content of movies and
video games. The PH-DVD format also introduces a new hardware level suppression
of the possibility of unlicensed replication piracy.
The Polarizonics Technology R&D effort is supported by an expert engineering
team. Dr. Zachar, the founder and original inventor of the Polarizonics optical
disc memory technology, received his Ph.D in theoretical physics at UCLA.
Prof. David Ezra (Reading University) is a co-founder of the Company. Prof. Ezra
was a founder member of Sharp Corporation's European Technology Centre in
Oxford. In 2000 he was the Director of Strategic Research of Sharp's European
Technology Centre. Prof. Ezra is currently a Visiting Professor at the
Department of Physics of Reading University, and remains a Senior Corporate
Advisor of Sharp, reporting directly to the Board.
Prof. Masud Mansuripur (University of Arizona), a board member, is supervising
the laboratory testing system design. Prof. Mansuripur is Chair of Optical Data
Storage, Professor of Optical Sciences University of Arizona Optical Sciences
Center, and is a leading scientist in the field of optical data storage.
Prof. Steven McLaughlin is responsible for developing optimal encoding
algorithms, determine the maximum achievable information density, and explore
possible novel copy protection mechanisms for the PL format. Prof. McLaughlin is
director of research at Georgia Tech institute of telecommunications. He
presently serves as president of the international IEEE Information Theory
Society. He is the author of 23 patents in the field.
Prof. Hong-Wen Jiang (UCLA) is mainly responsible for the development and supply
of test samples designed according to the PL specifications. Prof. Jiang was a
Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University from 1989-91, where he worked with
the Nobel laureates Profs. Dan Tsui and Horst Stormer. He joined the Department
of Physics at UCLA in 1991. Jiang was a Sloan Fellow (1992-94), recipient of the
1993 McMillan Award for outstanding contributions in condensed matter physics,
and the 1996 Overseas Chinese Physics Association Outstanding Young Researcher
Award.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange