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Contact: Joan Schwartz, Boston University Office of Public Relations, (617) 353-4626 [email protected] orBarbara Rudolph, Miller-Shandwick Technologies, (617)351-4138, [email protected]
PHOTONICS CENTER COMPANY RECEIVES MILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENTPhotoSecure, Inc. Emerges from Boston University Photonics Center Business Incubator with Venture Funding from GenuOne, Inc.
(Boston, Mass.) - PhotoSecure, Inc., a company offering a new group of high-performance photochemical security systems, today announced that GenuOne, Inc. has invested one million dollars in the development of the company. PhotoSecure's technologies were developed and patented by Guilford Jones, professor of chemistry and his colleagues at the Boston University Photonics Center. The young company was incubated in the Center's Business Incubator. GenuOne is a leading provider of brand security solutions for counterfeiting, product diversion, and licensing fraud.
GenuOne's investment, through GenuOne Technology Capital (GTC), is enabling PhotoSecure to dedicate its attention to developing security-focused applications for the commercial market.
PhotoSecure supplies proprietary inks and dye platforms that include covert "unique spectral signatures" applied to product manufacturers' labels, packaging materials, products and security documents. The company also supplies hand-held detectors that can recognize these unique signatures. The detectors have data communication, analysis, storage and retrieval capability allowing key executives to monitor inventories and brand protection programs on an ongoing basis.
"PhotoSecure is a strategic investment for us," said Jeffrey Unger, CEO of GenuOne. "It enables us to integrate the most advanced thinking in photochemical technology into GenuOne's portfolio of Brandsecure(tm) solutions that include measures for authentication, tracking and control. Our partnership with PhotoSecure will provide advanced, results-driven solutions for the brand erosion, counterfeiting and diversion issues facing major global brands in today's commercial marketplace."
"Incubation in the Photonics Center has allowed us to navigate the valley of death that claims the life of most new companies," said David J. Phillips CEO of PhotoSecure, Inc. "With the Photonic Center's support we have achieved proof of concept and developed commercial products during this incubation period. Partnering with GenuOne enables us to move to the next level. GenuOne has exactly the right strategy and people to achieve great success in brand protection. We look forward to an exciting and most beneficial journey with GenuOne."
GenuOne is targeting a number of markets with the kind of technology solutions that PhotoSecure provides. These markets include sporting goods and equipment, brand name apparel, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, business consumables and luxury brands.
GenuOne's GTC Division
GenuOne's GTC division is the source for GenuOne's current and future technology needs. It offers technology development companies access to GenuOne's applications, integration, capital and business development capabilities. GTC seeks out companies that posses a mission to build advanced machine-readable solutions for authentication, tracking and control, in both the physical world and online.
About PhotoSecure, Inc.
PhotoSecure, Inc. was formed in 1998 to commercialize a new class of high performance photochemicals developed and patented by faculty at the Photonics Center. The company's products center on a range of new compounds with unique photoluminescent properties that are characterized by their wavelength dependent excitation response, user choice of visible emission spectra and selectable emission decay times. Professor Guilford Jones, PhotoSecure's Chief Technical Officer is a member of the photonics faculty and professor of chemistry at Boston University. Further information about PhotoSecure, Inc. is available at http://www.photosec.com
About the Boston University Photonics Center
Boston University launched the Photonics Center in 1994 as a new model for university-industry collaboration, bridging the gap between basic research and practical application. Its mission is to forge business partnerships with investors and industrial partners, turning emerging concepts in photonics technology into commercial products, and creating a growing stream of new companies. Dr. Donald C. Fraser is director of the Photonics Center; Dr. Shawn Burke is deputy director.
The Photonics Center has already graduated Mosaic Technologies and PhotoDetection Systems from the Photonics Business Incubator. Further information about the Photonics Center and its partners is available at http://www.bu.edu/photonics
About GenuOne, Inc. Founded in 1998, with headquarters in Boston, GenuOne offers technology and consulting services to corporations to protect the quality of their global brand security. GenuOne helps clients to build Brandsecure programs that eliminate the issues of counterfeiting, gray market diversion, royalty-fraud and online intellectual property theft. The company logically maps strategic business objectives to these often-unidentified risks and leverages innovative thinking with years of diverse business experience to create unparalleled Brandsecure solutions.
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August 7, 2000
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