Aperio Technologies Secures $17 Million Series B Funding

VISTA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 7, 2005--Aperio Technologies, the leading provider of virtual microscopy systems in the Healthcare IT industry, today announced it has closed a $17 million Series B round of financing. Aperio will use the new capital for expanding sales and operations, developing new products, protecting its intellectual property, and driving market adoption.

The round was co-led by Galen Partners, a New York-based private equity firm specializing in healthcare investing, and Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV) a bi-coastal venture fund specializing in healthcare and technology investments. Other investors included Dako A/S of Glostrup, Denmark. Terms of the financing deal were not disclosed.

Zubeen Shroff from Galen, and Tom Rodgers from ATV, will join the Aperio board of directors. Stephen Shapiro, a longtime medical technology industry expert, will also be joining as an outside board member.

“We believe the Pathology field is on an evolutionary path similar to Radiology, where digitizing images has become commonplace and has enabled dramatic workflow efficiencies. More importantly, we believe that Aperio is best positioned to drive this evolution,” said Mr. Rodgers, a former vice president of corporate strategy at McKesson. “Virtual microscopy is the lynchpin of digital pathology, and Aperio has built and installed more virtual microscopy solutions than anyone else in this rapidly growing segment.”

“We are convinced Aperio is poised for significant growth over the next three years,” commented Mr. Shroff. “They have superior products, the largest installed base in the space, and a seasoned management team. They truly are leading the transition to virtual microscopy, as evidenced by a customer base that includes leaders in the clinical, research, and education pathology sectors.”

Dirk Soenksen, chairman and CEO of Aperio, said, “We are excited to have the support of seasoned healthcare investors like Galen Partners and ATV who bring financial acumen and years of proven experience in building healthcare technology companies. It is a vote of confidence in our technology, and in our belief that the industry is moving toward digitized pathology. Aperio’s high-speed line scanning technology is specifically designed to meet the emergent needs of this soon-to-be $1 billion digital pathology market.”

About Virtual Microscopy

Virtual microscopy is the practice of converting entire glass microscope slides to high resolution digital slides -- entire-slide images that can be remotely viewed, quantitatively analyzed, and readily annotated, shared and managed, all without a traditional microscope. Aperio’s line of ScanScope Systems delivers automated high-speed digital slide creation, management, and analysis for pathology. Archival and retrieval, quality assurance, frozen section interpretation, secondary consultations, and entire-slide image analysis are all improved with the ScanScope System.

About Aperio Technologies, Inc.

With the largest installed base of virtual microscopy systems, Aperio Technologies is a worldwide leader in virtual microscopy. Our ScanScope® scanners and Digital Slide Information Management Software deliver integrated digital slide creation, viewing, management, and analysis capabilities to pathologists. Applications include tissue microarrays, toxicology pathology, image analysis, workflow systems (PACS), telepathology, frozen sections, hematopathology, and cytology. Our freely downloadable ImageScope(TM) viewer makes digital slides accessible anywhere, anytime. With headquarters in Vista, California, Aperio serves a global pathology market in clinical, research, and education. For more information and to view a gallery of digital slides created by ScanScope Systems, please visit www.aperio.com.

About Advanced Technology Ventures

Founded in 1979, Advanced Technology Ventures is a bi-coastal venture capital firm with more than $1.4 billion in capital under management. ATV works closely with entrepreneurial teams in several technology markets, including biotechnology, medical devices, communications, IT infrastructure, and software and services, to build emerging-growth business ventures into market leaders. With more than 25 years of experience, ATV has a proven track record of success in helping to build strong, sustainable business enterprises. For more information, please visit ATV’s Web site at www.atvcapital.com.

About Galen Partners

Galen Partners is a New York-based private equity firm focused exclusively on providing equity financing to mid-to-later stage growth companies in the healthcare industry. Founded in 1990, Galen Partners was one of the first funds to focus exclusively on investments in healthcare-related companies. With $648 million under management raised through four funds, Galen has invested in more than 60 companies. The firm emphasizes investments within the medical device, technology-enabled outsourcing services and specialty pharmaceutical sectors. Galen partners with management through an approach called Collaborative Capital -- a combination of focus, growth and expertise that enables Galen to work collaboratively with company management teams to create disruptive strategies that not only generate revenue growth, but also help firms achieve their full market potential. Over the past fourteen years, Galen Partners has been particularly adept at identifying, backing and developing numerous future trend-setting, industry leaders. For more information about Galen Partners please visit www.galenpartners.com.

ScanScope and ImageScope are trademarks and registered trademarks of Aperio Technologies.

Contact: Aperio Technologies, Inc. Dirk Soenksen, 760-539-1101 dsoenksen@aperio.com or Galen Partners Susie Reppel, 212-218-4978 sreppel@galenpartners.com or Advanced Technology Ventures Tom Rodgers, 650-321-8601 trodgers@atvcapital.com

Source: Aperio Technologies, Inc.

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