News January 24, 08:03 Eastern Time
COMMAND AUDIO ANNOUNCES $56 MILLION IN NEW FUNDING FROM LEADING MEDIA, TECHNOLOGY AND VENTURE CAPITAL COMPANIES CANAAN PARTNERS, MOTOROLA, Chase Capital Partners and Vulcan Ventures, Inc. Among Investors in World's First Audio-on-Demand Service
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jan 24, 2000 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Command
Audio Corporation, creator of the world's first audio-on-demand
service, today announced $56 million in new funding from leading media,
technology and venture capital companies. The new funding will help
fuel the roll out of Command Audio's revolutionary entertainment and
information service to major US markets in the coming year.
Led by Canaan Partners, a national venture capital firm that invests in
a range of technology-based companies, the round also includes Chase
Capital Partners, which has extensive media and broadcasting holdings,
Motorola, a global leader in providing integrated communications
solutions, embedded electronic solutions and automotive telematics
systems, and Todd US Ventures.
Prior investors H&Q Venture Associates, Vulcan Ventures, TI Ventures,
Macrovision, St. Paul Venture Capital and Franklin Resources are also
participating in this financing.
Command Audio is the world's first audio-on-demand service. The Company
wirelessly transmits hundreds of audio programs each day from a variety
of print and broadcast sources, putting mobile listeners in control of
the news, information and entertainment programming they choose, on
their schedules. Command Audio is currently available in Denver and
Phoenix through handheld receivers manufactured by Thomson Consumer
Electronics and marketed under the RCA brand. Command Audio expects to
be available nationwide in 2001.
"The involvement of investors of this caliber is a significant
endorsement of Command Audio, our leadership position and the huge
market potential of mobile on-demand information and entertainment,"
said Don Bogue, co-founder and CEO of Command Audio Corporation. "We
are especially gratified by the continuing involvement of our early
round investors. As a result of their consistent support and now the
participation of new investors, we are poised to deliver an
extraordinary experience to millions of listeners around the country."
"Command Audio is defining the new category of audio-on-demand
entertainment," said John Balen, General Partner of Canaan Partners.
"They have assembled the technology, partners, content and management
team to ensure their continued leadership in this space."
Earlier this month, Motorola and Command Audio announced a strategic
initiative to integrate the Command Audio service with Motorola's new
iRadio(TM) in-vehicle platform. The iRadio initiative will provide
in-vehicle information and entertainment services to motorists.
Motorola will begin offering these systems to major automobile
manufacturers next year, further extending the reach of the Command
Audio service.
As part of the relationship between the two companies, Command Audio
also announced today that Joe Guglielmi, president of Motorola's
Integrated Electronics Systems Sector, has joined its Board of
Directors.
Specific terms of each investment were not disclosed.
About Command Audio Command Audio is the world's first audio-on-demand
service, putting listeners in command of news, information and
entertainment programs of their choosing, on their schedules. Winner of
several awards, including Popular Science's "Best of What's New 1999"
and CES Innovations Engineering and Design awards in 1999 and 2000,
Command Audio Corporation is a privately held company headquartered in
Redwood City, California.
The Command Audio service is currently available in Denver and Phoenix.
RCA CA1000 Audio-on-Demand Receivers are manufactured by Thomson
Consumer Electronics and presently can be purchased online through
Command Audio (www.commandaudio.com) and RCA (www.rca.com).
About Canaan Partners Canaan Partners (www.canaan.com) is a national
venture capital investment firm formed in 1987. Canaan specializes in
early stage venture capital for Internet technology, e-commerce and
life sciences companies. Canaan was an early backer in CommerceOne,
E.piphany/Rightpoint, Copper Mountain Networks, DoubleClick, E-stamp,
iPrint, IntraWare, Mortgage.com and SalesLogix along with dozens of
other market-leading companies.
About Chase Capital Partners Chase Capital Partners (CCP) is a global
private equity partnership with over $15 billion under management. CCP
has been a leading provider of private equity capital since its
inception in 1984 and is a diversified investor with significant
interests in most major industries. To date, CCP has closed more than
950 individual transactions in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin
America. CCP's primary limited partner is The Chase Manhattan
Corporation, one of the largest bank holding companies in the United
States. More information can be found at www.chasecapital.com.
About Franklin Resources Franklin Resources, Inc. is a global
investment management organization headquartered in San Mateo,
California. Through its subsidiaries, Franklin provides global and
domestic investment management, shareholder and distribution services
to the Franklin Templeton mutual funds and institutional accounts. More
information can be found at www.frk.com.
About H&Q Venture Associates H&Q Venture Associates, LLC (HQVA) is an
independent venture capital firm founded in July of 1998 as a successor
to Hambrecht & Quist Group's early stage venture capital business. HQVA
provides early-stage technology companies with value-adding equity
financing through various limited partnerships including Adobe Ventures
and TI Ventures. HQVA's areas of expertise include enterprise software,
communications systems and services, publishing related software and
services, and the Internet. H&Q Venture Associates currently manages
over $330 million invested in over 50 portfolio companies across the
United States. More information on HQVA is located on the World Wide
Web at www.hqva.com.
About Macrovision Macrovision Corporation develops and markets
technologies to prevent the illicit duplication, reception or use of
video and audio programs and computer software. Macrovision provides
its products and services primarily to the home video, consumer
multimedia software, pay-per-view, cable, satellite, and video security
markets. Macrovision has its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California with
subsidiaries in London and Tokyo.
About Motorola Motorola Integrated Electronic Systems Sector (IESS) is
a leading provider of advanced electronic products and systems for
customers integrating electronics into their products. Motorola IESS
solutions provide the Digital DNA? that makes electronic systems smart,
powerful and easy to use. Motorola IESS designs and manufactures
electronic solutions for automotive, communications, imaging,
manufacturing systems, computer, consumer and industrial markets.
Motorola is a global leader in providing integrated, end-to-end
wireless communications/Internet solutions and embedded electronic
solutions. More information can be found online at
www.telematics.motorola.com.
About St. Paul Venture Capital Founded in 1988, St. Paul Venture
Capital is focused on investing in early stage companies in the areas
of consumer internet, business internet, communications, and health
care. With offices in Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Boston and over
$1.5 billion under management, SPVC invests nationally in industry
leading companies. More information can be found at www.stpaulvc.com.
About TI Ventures TI Ventures is a worldwide venture capital fund
established in 1996 by Texas Instruments, the world leader in digital
signal processing and analog technologies, and H&Q Venture Associates,
a leading venture capital firm. The fund is designed to invest in
early-stage technology companies focused on hardware and software
applications that leverage digital signal processing and other related
technologies. More information on the TI Ventures Fund is located on
the World Wide Web at www.ti.com/tiventures or www.hqva.com.
Texas Instruments Incorporated is a global semiconductor company and
the world's leading designer and supplier of digital signal processing
solutions, the engines driving the digitization of electronics.
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company's businesses also include
material and controls, educational and productivity solutions, and
digital imaging. The company has manufacturing or sales operations in
more than 25 countries. Texas Instruments is traded on the New York
Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is located on the
World Wide Web at www.ti.com.
About Todd US Ventures, LLC Todd US Ventures is a wholly owned
subsidiary of The Todd Corporation (Todd), one of New Zealand's largest
privately-owned investment companies. Todd is a long-term investor that
seeks a mixture of growth and dividend returns in industry sectors with
significant size or potential for growth. Todd currently has
significant investments in the energy, media, e-commerce, healthcare
and property sectors in New Zealand and Australia.
About Vulcan Ventures, Inc. Vulcan Ventures, Inc. of Bellevue,
Washington was founded by Paul G. Allen in 1986 to research and
implement his investments. Through Vulcan Ventures, Allen invests in
companies which offer products, services or technologies that fit his
Wired World strategy and can contribute to or benefit from the
technology and strategy of other companies within the group's extensive
investment portfolio. In addition, the group owns Charter
Communications, the fourth largest cable operating company in the
United States with more than 6 million subscribers. Recent investments
include those in innovative content (e.g. Oxygen Media, ZDTV), Internet
and e-commerce (e.g. Drugstore.com, eGreetings, Go2Net, Priceline.com,
Stamps.com), telecommunications (e.g. Allegiance Telecom, High Speed
Access, InterNAP, NorthPoint Communications) and consumer device and
service companies (e.g. Replay Networks, TiVo, and Wink
Communications). William D. Savoy is president of Vulcan Ventures and
represents Allen in his professional and personal financial
transactions as well as manages the Vulcan Ventures investment analysts
who investigate and secure investment opportunities. Allen remains
chairman of Vulcan Ventures. For more information on Vulcan Ventures
visit www.paulallen.com.
SOURCE Command Audio Corporation
(C) 2000 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
prnewswire.com
CONTACT: Sarah Gore Welz, 650-596-2700, or sarah@thomaspr.com, for
Command Audio Corporation
WEB PAGE: rca.com
canaan.com
chasecapital.com
frk.com
hqva.com
telematics.motorola.com
stpaulvc.com
ti.com
paulallen.com
commandaudio.com
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