Reveal Imaging Finds $20M in Latest Financing
Friday, March 28, 2008
Reveal Imaging finds $20M in latest financing
Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology - by Efrain Viscarolasaga
http://www.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2008/03/31/story4.html?ana=from_rss
Scanning the bags of its own executives at Reveal Imaging Technologies
Inc. won't uncover any explosives -- as the company's products are
designed to do -- but it might reveal some cash.
Last week, the Bedford-based baggage-scanning technology maker closed a
$20.3 million round of funding from new and existing investors. According
to public documents, $12.3 million of the investment came in the form of
convertible debt, while a little more than $8 million came in the form of
an equity investment.
The new cash will help the company expand its offering of computed
tomography (CT) scanners for airport security, as well as help the
company push into new, nonaviation applications, according to CEO Michael
Ellenbogen.
The company's traditional product has been used with checked baggage to
be stored in the belly of aircraft. But a gate-side version for carry-on
luggage has been developed and approved by the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA). Those products will be shipping in the next few
months, said Ellenbogen.
Fifteen investors were listed in a regulatory filing and include previous
backers General Catalyst of Cambridge, Flybridge Capital Partners of
Boston (formerly IDG Ventures Boston) and Greylock Partners of Waltham.
Reveal also added a new investor, Brown Brothers Harriman of Boston.
Formed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, Reveal has carved a
niche in bringing smaller baggage-screening tech to the aviation
industry, which is required to inspect every package and bag going onto
an airplane. The company started shipping products in 2005 and has
installed 200 units worldwide -- with 70 in U.S. airports.
The technology uses CT scanning and includes automated software, giving
it a leg up on traditional X-ray systems. The size and lower cost of the
tech attracted the attention of the TSA, and Reveal has been involved
with several multimillion-dollar research efforts through the agency.
Despite a seeming overlap with 50-year-old Billerica-based American
Science and Engineering Inc. -- which makes X-ray technologies for
scanning containers and vehicles for weapons, explosives and other
contraband -- one venture capitalist said the companies' products aren't
the same.
"They are very different applications and very different technologies,
though the end game of spotting dangerous items is the same," said Chip
Hazard, a general partner at Reveal investor Flybridge Capital.
Ellenbogen would not reveal details, but said Reveal recently developed a
mobile version of the unit used for on-site inspection at high-risk
facilities, such as embassies. One such unit has already been shipped to
the Middle East, he said.
Security and operational concerns in domestic airports are expected to
fuel an 8 percent annual growth rate in the industry over the next four
years, making a $10 billion market by 2011.