Geomagic Closes on $5 Million in Venture Funding

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., April 7, 1999 - Geomagic, Inc., the software company that introduces simplicity and automation to 3D model creation, today announced the closing of a $5-million investment by Franklin Street/Fairview Capital. A condition of the investment is that Paul Rizzo, who is chairman of Franklin Street Partners and a general partner of Franklin Street/Fairview Capital, is to represent the fund on Geomagic's Board of Directors. The investment by Franklin Street/Fairview Capital will enable Geomagic to develop a broad market for the product line and continue their technology development.

"This relationship brings more than capital," said Jon Fjeld, Geomagic president and CEO. "Franklin Street/Fairview can be of great help to us formulating business strategy and building relationships with strategic partners. We intend to use this investment to launch a major sales and marketing campaign as well as to expand research and development."

Geomagic's 3D modeling software provides the long sought-after solution to automatic surface reconstruction from scan data. The company's products are based on a fundamental technology developed during 15 years of research in discrete mathematics and computation. Although the technology is complex, Geomagic introduces simplicity to 3D modeling because the user starts with a physical model instead of trying to capture design intent with a drawing package. With Geomagic's technology, it is now economically feasible to use 3D modeling software in industries where the production quality representation of intricate shape information is of critical importance.

Geomagic was founded in 1996 by Herbert Edelsbrunner and Ping Fu. Edelsbrunner is world renowned for his research in computational geometry and topology. He is the only computer scientist to have won the prestigious Alan T. Waterman Award from the National Science Foundation. Ping Fu is chairman and chief technical officer of Geomagic. Prior to founding the company, she was involved in two successful technology start-ups. Her other achievements include initiating NCSA Mosaic, developing the graphics for the movie, Terminator II, and deploying the first supercomputer in Hong Kong. Jon Fjeld, the company's president and CEO, is a respected high-tech executive, held several high-level positions during his 12-year career at IBM and was president and CEO of NetEdge Systems.

Franklin Street/Fairview Capital, based in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, was formed in November of 1996 when the principals of Franklin Street Partners, a Chapel Hill financial services firm, and Fairview Capital, L.L.C., a Raleigh private investment company, combined to pursue private investment opportunities. The principals of Franklin Street/Fairview Capital have an extraordinary track record of success in a wide range of endeavors, including major corporate management; mergers and acquisitions; entrepreneurship; large-scale asset management; and identifying, structuring, managing, and liquidating private investments. Franklin Street/Fairview Capital controls three specific private investment pools totaling just under $70 million.

About Geomagic

Geomagic (www.geomagic.com) is a global company dedicated to advancing and applying 3D technology for the benefit of humanity. Geomagic’s scanning and design software solutions are used to capture and model 3D content from physical objects, organically sculpt complex shapes, and prepare products for manufacturing. In addition, the company produces powerful 3D metrology and inspection software that verifies dimensional quality by comparing as-built products to master designs. Geomagic’s Sensable Phantom haptic devices simulate the sense of touch in a digital environment. 

Geomagic’s software and hardware are utilized by world-class customers in a variety of industries, including aerospace, automotive, medical, consumer products, toys, collectibles, coindesign, jewelry, fine art, heritage restoration, research, education, mold making, entertainment, training and surgical simulation. In fact, some of the world’s leading companies and research organizationsuse Geomagic software, including Ford, BMW,Boeing, Harley Davidson, Timberland, Mattel/Fisher Price, Lego, Pratt & Whitney, NASA, Schneider Electronic, 3M, Danaher and Invisalign. Geomagic is based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., USA, with an office in Boston, subsidiaries in Europe and Asia, and channel partners worldwide.

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Geomagic, Geomagic Studio, Geomagic Qualify, Geomagic Qualify Probe, Geomagic Spark, Wrap, Geomagic Wrap, Phantom, OpenHaptics, Omni, Freeform, Claytools, Sensable and Sensable Technologies, Inc. are trademarks or registered trademarks of Geomagic Inc.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contact:

Rachael Taggart
Geomagic, Inc.
+(1) 919-474-0135
Contact Rachael