Microlanguage Closes its Series A Round of Financing
Equity Commitment from the Lead Investor Caps the Round

Amherst, NY--March 6, 2003 -- Microlanguage™, a provider of intelligent language processing solutions, today announced it has closed its Series A financing round, having received investor commitments totaling $1.0 million in equity. While Microlanguage has received a substantial amount of the funding, the balance is contingent upon meeting certain milestones. The round was lead by Spaulding Ventures, an early and interim-stage equity fund, and supported by several angel investors.

Founded in April, 2001, Microlanguage has quickly established itself as a leading provider of natural language processing technology in the homeland security (HLS) and national defense market sectors. Microlanguage's Thematix technology enables knowledge and content management systems to more precisely and thoroughly identify, tag and extract content from a variety of unstructured data sources, and for a variety of applications including: intelligence analysis, document searches, and push news. Superior technology has also enabled Microlanguage to build important technology partnerships, and relationships with three of the top four systems integrators that support the HLS market.

Under the terms of the investment agreement approved by Microlanguage shareholders, the Spaulding investment allows Microlanguage to tap the matching funds portion of a loan from the Niagara Region Ventures Fund, part of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency (ECIDA) Financing Group. In consideration of Spaulding's investment, Microlanguage has granted Spaulding a seat on their Board that will be filled by Spaulding's Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Ken Schneider.

The funding raised will contribute to working capital, and will underwrite investments in infrastructure required for growth, including capital equipment and personnel. The funding also positions Microlanguage to aggressively develop additional customer and partnering opportunities for Thematix within the HLS market sector, which analysts have estimated at more than $188 billion (government and private sector), as well as the Enterprise market for content and knowledge management systems.

Robert Fritzinger, president and CEO of Microlanguage, said, "It is a tribute to our technology, the dedication of our team, and our vision and market opportunities that we closed this round in such a difficult funding environment. Having reached our goal, and, in the process, had our business plan validated, we can now focus all our energies on our core objectives of pairing Thematix with market opportunities, particularly in the HLS sector, advancing our technology, and forming additional partnerships. We are also very excited about leveraging the connections our lead financial partner (Spaulding) brings to our enterprise sector business development initiatives."

Robert Logel, founder and managing director of Spaulding Ventures, said, "We examine upwards of a dozen early-stage investment opportunities per month. What drew us to Microlanguage and sold us on investing now was the strength and timeliness of their technology, their management team's talent and experience, and their positioning within a high growth, strategic market (homeland security). Bob (Fritzinger) has assembled a very solid proposition that we are confident will contribute significant value and worth of our fund."

Thomas Kucharski, president and CEO of Buffalo Niagara Enterprise and Erie County IDA, said, "The evolution of Microlanguage is a testament to the pro business climate emerging in WNY. The structural and programmatic changes in our regional economic development delivery system and the commitment of our private venture partners are beginning to yield positive results."

Al Culliton, Chief Lending Officer of the ECIDA, said, "Microlanguage's growth and the emergence of new venture capital sources in the local market bode well for entrepreneurs and their companies. ECIDA is happy to support local entrepreneurs who will be the future of the region."

Commenting on Microlanguage's success, John A. McGowan, Technology Business Advisor for the Western New York Technology Development Center and frequent advisor to Microlanguage, said, "What that team has accomplished in less than two years is remarkable not just because economic forces have been trending against them, but because they have managed to consistently maintain that often elusive balance between technology development and business development. That, I would say, is one of the keys to their success."

Microlanguage also announced today that with the closing of their Series A round, they converted their corporate status from a limited liability company (LLC) to a corporation, registered in the State of Delaware. Accordingly, the Company's name has changed from "Microlanguage LLC" to "Microlanguage Incorporated."

About Spaulding Ventures
Spaulding Ventures is a 3 year old early to interim stage equity fund that works with entrepreneurs to develop and launch tomorrow's leading growth businesses. Spaulding affords investors the opportunity to participate in venture financing of a diversified portfolio of start-up and emerging growth companies with potentially significant operating success, and to capitalize on Spaulding's affiliation with several existing venture capital and investment banking entities investing in similar sectors. The firm's portfolio includes: Smart-Pill Corporation, a medical technology company that has developed the SmartPillTM Capsule to monitor GI pressure and motility for the diagnosis of GI disorders and map the alimentary canal; Brilliant Coatings, a developer of proprietary, environmentally responsible specialty coatings for construction and infrastructure maintenance applications; and termQuick, an online provider of insurance-related products and services to businesses. Spaulding maintains offices in the Buffalo, NY, Boston, MA, and Seattle, WA areas. For more information on Spaulding Ventures, visit them on the Web at spauldingventures.com, or call them at 716.626.6311.

return to top