June 6, 2002 — Kionix Inc., a MEMS designer and manufacturer, is attempting to raise $15 million in financing by issuing a combination of common stock and Series A preferred stock, according to Jim Kirkwood, Kionix vice president and chief financial officer.
Thus far, the only investor announcing participation is Rand Capital SBIC, L.P., a wholly owned subsidiary of Rand Capital Corp., which invested $750,000 in Series A preferred stock. According to Kirkwood, other investors have also closed but have not announced yet.
The financing will be used to meet “ongoing working capital requirements to develop commercial products in the MEMS industry,” Kirkwood said, adding that the intention is to “get the company commercialized to the extent we have positive cashflow.” Kirkwood declined to set a target date for positive cash flow, but does not anticipate another round of financing.
Kionix was founded in 1993 based on MEMS research at Cornell University. In late 2000, the original Kionix was acquired by Calient Networks Inc., along with the company’s optical component technologies.
Before acquisition, Kionix spun off a separate business entity with rights to its accelerometer, microfluidics, and data storage technologies, as well as to the company’s name. According to Kirkwood, the “new” Kionix, based in Ithaca, N.Y., previously received $22 million in common stock financing during the spring of 2001.