From Science Fiction to Real Solutions, Oblong Receives Investments from Morgan Stanley AIP, GE-NRG Energy-ConocoPhillips Venture and Foundry Group
Oblong Industries, the company that created the computing environments
depicted in the film Minority Report, has announced that it is
partnering with two new funders for its Series B capital raise: Morgan
Stanley Alternative Investment Partners, and Energy Technology Ventures
? a GE-NRG Energy-ConocoPhillips venture. The Foundry Group, already an
Oblong investor, led the new funding round.
Oblong and its partners view this latest investment round as an
opportunity to fuel growth, further extend the company′s technology
leadership position, and deliver solutions to a broader market.
Oblong′s g-speak? spatial operating system provides data visualization,
analytics, and integration capabilities across multiple computers,
screens, and applications. The g-speak environment supports many
different kinds of computing and input devices, from desktops and
laptops to mobile devices, from large-screen 'mission control? centers
to walk-up information kiosks. Oblong pioneered the development of
gestural interfaces and continues to ship the world′s most scalable and
accurate system for interactive hand and object tracking.
Oblong′s Mezzanine? product, built on the g-speak platform, introduces
next-generation, real-time collaboration with integrated telepresence.
Mezzanine allows any user on an enterprise network to share content and
applications with any colleague, any where in the world, dynamically and
interactively.
Video of Oblong′s products is available at the company′s website: http://www.oblong.com/.
'We believe Oblong's spatial operating system is revolutionizing the way
people interact with their computers,' said Jamey Sperans, Managing
Director, Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners. 'We are
delighted to be partnering with Oblong's team of visionaries in pursuing
the multiple market opportunities for this transformative technology.'
Oblong′s technology research began over two decades ago at the MIT Media
Lab. Today, the team is comprised of developers and engineers formerly
with companies including Apple, Google, Pixar, Microsoft, Accenture and
Walt Disney Imagineering.
Kwindla Hultman Kramer, Oblong′s Chief Executive Officer, commented, 'We
founded Oblong because we want to make computers better, smarter, and
easier to use. We're proud of the multi-user, multi-screen, multi-device
spatial operating environment we're supplying to partners like Boeing,
SAP, and GE Digital Energy. And we look forward to taking that platform
to broader markets in 2012.?
'We seek to invest in brilliant innovations that solve real problems
with a talented team that can execute. We found that in Oblong. Their
groundbreaking technology has the potential to fundamentally change how
we interact with and act on data,? said Kevin Skillern, GE Energy
Financial Services′ Managing Director of venture capital and
representative of Energy Technology Ventures.
Oblong will use the new investment dollars to scale product
commercialization and custom solutions development. Partners are
critical to this scaling, and GE recently announced that Oblong′s
technology has been licensed by GE Digital Energy for use in new Smart
Grid analytics software. The product will enable utilities to use
integrated digital tools and data sources designed to make decisions,
both in infrastructure planning and real-time operations.
GE′s partnership with Oblong was conducted through GE′s ecomagination
Accelerator program. The $20 million ecomagination Accelerator program,
a spin-off from the $200 million ecomagination challenge, is designed to
scale offerings of leading start-up companies through GE as a global
growth platform. In addition to equity investments, GE funds commercial
pilots through the Accelerator program in key growth markets like the
smart grid.
Financial details on the Series B financing round in Oblong Industries
were not disclosed.
About Oblong Industries
Oblong Industries′ innovative technologies and ideas are changing the
way people work, play, and communicate. Oblong′s technology was the
basis for the computers depicted in the film Minority Report ? and
has roots in more than two decades of research at the MIT Media Lab.
Oblong′s products, including the g-speak? spatial operating system and
the Mezzanine? collaboration appliance, define the next generation of
multi-user, multi-screen, multi-device computing.
Oblong is headquartered in Los Angeles and supplies g-speak and
Mezzanine? systems to Fortune 50 enterprise customers, reseller
partners, and academic and research institutions.
About Energy Technology Ventures
Energy Technology Ventures is a joint venture involving GE (NYSE: GE),
NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG), and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) focused on the
development of next-generation energy technologies. Bringing together
three market-leading companies with a wide range of deep technical and
financial expertise, relationships, services and products, the joint
venture invests in, and offers commercial collaboration opportunities
to, venture- and growth-stage energy technology companies in the
renewable power generation, smart grid, energy efficiency, oil, natural
gas, coal and nuclear energy, emission controls, water and biofuels
sectors, primarily in North America, Europe and Israel. For more
information, visit www.energytechnologyventures.com.
About Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners
Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners (AIP), part of Morgan
Stanley Investment Management, provides innovative alternative
investment solutions across hedge funds, private equity, real estate and
diversified alternatives. AIP's dedicated investment teams draw on a
deep understanding of alternative investment strategies formed over
decades of investment experience and apply this expertise and insight to
bring thoughtful, opportunistic and innovative solutions to clients.
About Foundry Group
Foundry Group is a venture capital firm focused on making investments in
early-stage information technology, Internet and software startups. Our
passion is working alongside entrepreneurs to give birth to new
technologies and to build those technologies into industry-leading
companies. We′re centrally located in Boulder, CO, but we invest in
companies across North America.
Our current venture fund of $225m was launched in October 2010 and is
managed by our four ?managing directors. Collectively, we have over five
decades of experience in venture capital investing. During that time we
have invested in over 100 companies as institutional investors and over
50 companies as angel investors. Additionally, we have over three
decades of entrepreneurial experience in founding and working in senior
operating roles inside technology startups.
CJP Communications for Energy Technology Ventures
Vu Chung,
212-279-3115, ext. 205
vchung@cjpcom.com
