Signal Lake to Acquire Majority Stake in InPhase

Signal Lake Management LLC, investor in next-generation technology and computer communications companies, announced that it has acquired the majority stake in InPhase Technologies, Inc., in holographic storage.

Under terms of the new investment, Signal Lake and its partners will control a significant majority stake in InPhase, which is in the process of being reorganized. Signal Lake was the founding lead investor in InPhase, which it helped spin out of Bell Laboratories in conjunction with the then-Lucent New Ventures Group in December, 2000. The company had raised more than $94 million in equity over five rounds of funding, and had produced the world’s first working prototype holographic storage system, dubbed Tapestry, in addition to winning numerous industry accolades and awards.

Bart Stuck, managing director of Signal Lake, and his Signal Lake cofounder, Mike Weingarten, will coordinate the ongoing strategic restructuring of InPhase, which will re-launch in the second half of 2010 with a reconstituted executive team and Board of Directors. Stuck, who co-founded Signal Lake in 1998, is a former Bell Labs scientist and Ph.D. from MIT whose ability to spot trends in digital communications, photonics, and network infrastructure has included successful investments in Ciena, Covad, and JDS Uniphase, among others. Prior to founding Signal Lake, he was a leading industry consultant on acquisitions and early-stage investments for a range of venture capital firms and technology companies.

InPhase will maintain its founding technical team – consisting of chief scientist Bill Wilson, chief technology officer Kevin Curtis, vice president of media development Lisa Dhar, and vice president of software development, Adrian Hill. InPhase will operate on a reduced basis during this initial restructuring phase.

“Our immediate goal with InPhase is to enter into a highly-focused planning period that will set new product development and manufacturing schedules for initial product delivery. Once this is completed, we will execute on a clear and concise go-to-market plan, involving initial customers and partners,” said Stuck. “The InPhase team has achieved what no other scientific team has ever achieved: the first commercial-phase holographic storage prototype. We are excited to report that we can now capitalize on years of breakthroughs with a product that will effectively service the needs of high-density archival storage for customers ranging from film and television studios to corporate enterprises and medical institutions.”

InPhase will remain in Longmont, Colorado. The company’s intellectual property portfolio, the industry’s most comprehensive, continues to expand. Initial InPhase customers have included the likes of Turner Broadcasting and Ikegami Electronics.