BinOptics Receives $10 Million in Series B Funding

ITHACA, NY - February 10, 2005 – BinOptics Corporation, an emerging supplier of integrated microphotonic chips for datacom, telecom, and optical storage applications announced today that new investors have led a $10 million Series B funding. The round included FA Technology Ventures and ArrowPath Venture Capital, along with previous investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Cayuga Venture Fund II. BinOptics will use the new funding to support product development and production scale-up.

“BinOptics has advanced its technology throughout the downturn in the communications marketplace and is emerging as a leader in innovative, low cost laser chips,” said Greg Hulecki Managing Partner at FATV. “We believe that BinOptics will play a significant role in reducing the cost of its customers’ equipment and systems through efficient manufacturing and functional integration. FA Technology Ventures is pleased to be able to support the BinOptics team as it moves its products to full-scale production.”

“BinOptics has shown that its etched facet technology is advantageous for a wide range of semiconductor materials,” remarked Dan Brown, Venture Partner at ArrowPath. “We expect this flexibility to allow the company to expand its product offerings to new applications, such as blue lasers for next generation DVD players, where low cost, high yield, and functional integration are urgently needed. ArrowPath Venture Capital is excited to be able to support the company’s rapid growth in these dynamic new markets.”

“Our company has succeeded in demonstrating the potential of the etched facet technology platform to create cost effective, reliable integrated photonic chip products,” said Alex Behfar, CEO of BinOptics. “This success is a tribute to the innovativeness and resourcefulness of our scientists and engineers as well as the robustness of our technology platform. We are gratified to have the support of our new and current investors. Their commitment is a strong validation of our technologies and target markets, and equips the company to take our products into the market.”

All BinOptics products are manufactured using its proprietary etched facet technology, which significantly reduces the cost of production, testing, and handling compared to conventional laser processing. The technology also enables monolithic integration of multiple functions on a single chip because of its flexibility and high yield. The company’s products include edge-emitting lasers with optional integrated monitoring detectors as well as the industry’s first horizontal-cavity surface-emitting laser (HCSEL™). The HCSEL™ is a high power, high reliability surface-emitting laser operating at the important 1310 and 1550 nm wavelengths, where vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) are not effective. The company plans to offer a HCSEL™ integrated with a high-speed detector to create a fully integrated optical transceiver chip for passive optical network (PON) systems in 2005.

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About BinOptics Corporation

BinOptics manufactures monolithically integrated laser chips based on its proprietary etched facet technology. This unique platform allows the company to meet commercial requirements with higher reproducibility, more flexibility for product design and integration, significantly lower cost, and higher performance than alternative processes. The company's products address datacom and telecom applications such as gigabit Ethernet and PON as well as advanced non-telecom applications. Founded in November 2000, BinOptics is privately held. The company is located in the Cornell Business & Technology Park in Ithaca, New York.

About FA Technology Ventures

FA Technology Ventures, based in Albany, New York and Boston, Mass., is a leading early stage investor, providing venture capital, management and guidance for companies in the emerging growth sectors of Information Technology and Energy Technology. FATV is committed to helping build tomorrow’s leading companies through its investments. It looks for business ideas with the potential for greatness and experienced, passionate entrepreneurs to execute on them. To learn more about FATV, visit www.FAtechventures.com.

About ArrowPath Venture Capital

ArrowPath Venture Capital, based in Redwood Shores, California, is a unique, early-stage venture capital firm with over $400 million under management. ArrowPath focuses on early and expansion stage companies developing highly differentiated enterprise and infrastructure technologies that offer a compelling value and have the prospect of achieving market leadership. To learn more about ArrowPath, visit www.arrowpathvc.com.