Viewics Announces Capital Funding From Murphree Venture Partners; Company Set to Launch Unique Special Effects Application for PC Video

Business Wire, June 20, 2000

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

PC Expo 2000

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 20, 2000

Viewics Corp. (formerly Sabbatical Inc.), a leader in real-time special effects for PC video communications, Tuesday announced the receipt of $3.5 million in first-round funding from Murphree Venture Partners, a Houston-based seed and early stage venture capital firm.

The funding will be directed toward the introduction of Viewics' products to the consumer and corporate marketplaces.

The funding announcement coincides with the company's name change to Viewics Corp., and the market debut of its flagship product, StarFX(TM). StarFX is a proprietary software application designed to be the industry standard for manipulating and enhancing PC video in real-time.

The patented technology allows users to instantly transform traditional "talking head" video into diverse and compelling visual environments for all their personal video communications, including video e-mail, streaming video, webcasts, video chat and videoconferencing.

"Viewics represents a perfect model for the kind of company we look to fund," said Dennis Murphree, managing partner with Murphree Venture Partners. "They have a unique, proprietary product, a deep and experienced management team, and an increasing market need. The demand for PC video products and services is growing exponentially, and Viewics has an extremely marketable product to address that growth."

According to Steve Wagh, chairman of the board for Viewics, the introduction of StarFX represents a significant milestone in the expected widespread adoption of PC cameras for use in everyday video communications.

"As we saw with desktop publishing, the opportunity to be creative and to easily customize our communications is highly desirable. We believe the ability to create fun, highly customized personal video will help achieve widespread adoption of the technology," he said. "We see StarFX fulfilling this market need in a way that is user friendly and affordable."

Wagh said that StarFX is the kind of application that will be in wide demand as personal video communications become as common as e-mail or phone calls. A recent report by International Data Corp. forecasts that the PC camera market will grow from 2.2 million units in 1999 to 16.1 million units in 2003.

Growth in the market is attributed to increased bandwidth primarily due to DSL and cable modem availability throughout the United States, and to shrinking retail pricing for PC cameras.

Viewics will be targeting both consumer and business users with the new product, which will debut at the upcoming PC Expo conference in New York at the end of June.

"We're extremely excited about the readiness of our StarFX product, and the opportunity this funding provides to be first to market with a sophisticated visual technology," said Wagh.

"The product has infinite applications for nearly every market segment."

About Viewics

Co-founded by Chief Executive Officer David Harter and President Michael Steffano in 1996, Viewics Corp. is the leader in real-time special effects for PC video. The company is positioned on the leading edge of digital video technology and software development, poised to contribute significantly to the large-scale adoption of PC video by consumers and businesses.

Its flagship software product, StarFX, gives users the power to instantly create the virtual environment of choice by mixing graphics, photos, moving video or animation with live images from their PC video camera. Applications for the product include video e-mail, streaming video, webcasts, video chat and videoconferencing.

The company is based in Dallas, with offices in Austin, Texas, and Scottsdale, Ariz.

For additional information on Viewics and its products and services, call Paige Parrish, 480/391-8907; Susan Bryan at 602/870-4752; or Byron Burke at 480/855-7218. Or visit the Viewics website at www.viewics.com.

About Murphree Venture Partners

Murphree Venture Partners, based in Houston, has been the lead or a substantial investor in more than 50 venture capital transactions coming under the category of a start-up or early stage company since the mid 1970s. They invest primarily in the Southwestern and Southern United States and focus on high technology and medical technology companies.

For more information on Murphree Venture Partners, refer to www.murphreeventures.com.

StarFX is a trademark of Viewics Corp.