Constellation Ventures Invests in Widevine Technologies

Business Wire, Oct 25, 2000

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 2000

Constellation Ventures, a Bear Stearns venture capital team that invests in companies that enable the distribution, management and control of information over emerging digital networks, announced today that it has led a $11.5 million investment in Widevine Technologies, Inc.

Widevine Technologies is a leader in Internet infrastructure dedicated to providing platform and format-independent value-added services and technologies for Internet streaming media. Widevine's mission is to become the preeminent provider of technical solutions for Internet content delivery. The company released its first product, Widevine Cypher, at Digital Hollywood 2000. Widevine Cypher is a revolutionary product that provides true security for Internet distribution of digital streaming media -- with minimal impact to content distributors and consumers.

The $11.5 million investment that was lead by Constellation Ventures included commitments from Charter Ventures, The Phoenix Partners and several angel investors. In addition, Dai Nippon Printing, a strategic Limited Partner of Constellation Ventures II, invested in this round and is a beta customer. Cliff Friedman, senior managing partner at Constellation Ventures, commented that Widevine's technology "provides the leading security solution for preventing piracy of streaming media on IP based networks," Mr. Friedman continued, "We consider it the first complete streaming security solution for protecting digital media."

About Constellation Ventures

Founded in 1998, Constellation Ventures, a unit of Bear Stearns Asset Management, manages $450 million in venture capital through offices in New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. The fund invests between $5 and $15 million in early to mid-stage companies that enable the distribution, management and control of information over emerging digital networks. Constellation Ventures provides its portfolio companies strategic value-added services by leveraging its Limited Partners that include Bear Stearns, Sony, Viacom, Young & Rubicam, Times Mirror, Dai Nippon Printing, NTT Data, Acxiom, Toyota and Singapore Technologies.

Bear Stearns Asset Management Inc. (BSAM), the asset management subsidiary of The Bear Stearns Companies Inc., manages over $17 billion in assets across a wide spectrum of asset classes and sectors. BSAM's capabilities include equity strategies, core and specialty fixed income and high-return alternative investment strategies, such as hedge funds, private equity and venture capital. Its global client base includes corporations, public funds, endowments, foundations, Taft-Hartley plans, insurance companies, individuals and family groups. In addition to its separate account, wrap and alternative investments businesses, BSAM is a registered investment advisor for 11 mutual fund portfolios.