MORGAN HILL, CA
By VentureWire Staff Reporters
January 20, 2005


Stav Prodromou, the company's chief executive, said that Shelton has had "a large number of financing events in his career and has experience managing companies through a growth phase." He said that Shelton will be instrumental in moving Alien into its next stage of development.

Shelton has over 20 years experience in finance, with over 10 years in CFO roles for public and private semiconductor companies including Alliance Semiconductor, Cirrus Logic, and Lara Technology, where he directed the spinoff of Lara Networks, which was acquired by Cypress Semiconductor in 2001.

Alien raised $18 million in its most recent round in 2004. This is expected to sustain the company through profitability. "We are very well financed, and we don't have any immediate funding needs," Prodromou said.

Total funding raised to date - from investors such as Sevin Rosen Funds, Rho Ventures and New Enterprise Associates - is approximately $143 million.
The company also recently added C. Scott Hartz as a director to its board. Hartz is a managing director at Spire Capital Group LLC, where he focuses on the commercialization of early-stage technologies from universities, government and private research institutions. Spire Capital does not have an investment in Alien Technology.

Hartz was also global CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting from 1995 to 2002. Prodromou said that Hartz "brings us expertise in enterprise solutions."

Alien Technology also recently entered into an agreement with ScanSource, under which ScanSource will serve as a distributor of Alien RFID product and service offerings, and the two companies will collaborate on joint marketing activities directed to resellers.

Based in Morgan Hill, Calif., Alien Technology provides RFID products for customers in government, retail, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, transportation and other industries. Using its patented manufacturing process, Alien manufactures RFID readers for applications such as supply chain management, logistics and anti-counterfeiting.

Founded in 1995, the company has approximately 200 employees and will be opening a new RFID customer service center in Dayton, Ohio in the second quarter.