Livescribe Secures $10.175 Million in Funding
OAKLAND, Calif.– February 9, 2009 – Livescribe Inc. (www.livescribe.com) announced today that it has secured $10.175 million of additional financing through an internal round led by Lionhart Investments Ltd. and Vantage Point Venture Partners.
“Despite a difficult economic and funding environment, we’re pleased to have such strong backing from the investment community,” said Jim Marggraff, founder and CEO, Livescribe, Inc. “Already a “must-have” product for thousands of students, doctors, lawyers, consultants, sales people, journalists, managers, engineers, and teachers, we are actively expanding the Livescribe platform in 2009, most notably with the launch of our application store in the second half of this year.”
Company Update
Since introducing the Livescribe Pulse smartpen last year, Livescribe has secured several product wins, including a Popular Science “Best of What’s New” award, a Popular Mechanics “Breakthrough” award and a Macworld 2009 “Best of Show” award. In a key milestone, the Pulse smartpen fully supports both Windows and Mac customers with the upcoming release of Livescribe Desktop for Mac 1.0 on Feb. 17. In addition, Livescribe’s first third-party application for the Pulse smartpen, MyScript for Livescribe by Vision Objects, converts legible handwriting to text, ideal for business professionals and college students. During 2009, Livescribe will expand into international markets and open its application store, unleashing a variety of new applications for users. Already, over 2,900 developers have registered to develop applications leveraging Livescribe’s java-based platform environment.
The Pulse smartpen is a mobile computing platform within a pen that captures handwriting and simultaneously records audio and synchronizes it to the writing. Users tap their notes on paper to replay what was recorded at the exact moment at which they were writing. With pre-printed controls at the bottom of the dot paper notebooks, users can fast forward, rewind, jump ahead, pause or even speed up or slow down the audio recordings to easily access information. All of this information, including the audio, may then be uploaded into computers to save, search for keywords or share with friends, colleagues and classmates.
About Livescribe
Located in Oakland, Calif., Livescribe has developed a new low-cost mobile computing platform that enhances productivity, learning, communication and self expression for anyone that uses pen and paper. The Pulse smartpen revolutionizes the act of writing by recording and linking audio to handwriting, so users never miss a word. Livescribe was founded by Jim Marggraff, the inventor of paper-based computing, the FLY pentop, and the LeapPad learning system. For more information, visit Livescribe at www.livescribe.com
About Anoto Group AB
Anoto Group is the world leader in Digital Pen and Paper technology and inventor of the first commercialized Digital Pen and Paper system allowing quick and reliable transmission of handwritten text from paper to digital media. Anoto works with a global network of partners focusing on user-friendly forms solutions for efficient capture, transmission and storing of data for a variety of business segments including healthcare, banking and finance, transportation and logistics, government and education. The Anoto Group has around 100 employees, offices in Lund (head office), Boston and Tokyo. Major shareholders are Norden Technology A/S, Robur and SEB. The Anoto share is traded on the Mid Cap of the OMX Nordic Exchanges in Stockholm under the ticker ANOT. For more information: www.anoto.com
Press Contact:
Jody Farrar
A&R Edelmen for Livescribe
650.762.2925
jfarrar@ar-edelman.com
