See-through-walls tech co Camero raises $14m

Greylock Partners joined the company’s existing investors in the second round.

Israeli start-up Camero Inc. has raised $14 million in its second financing round. The company’s existing investors - Alta Berkeley Venture Partner, Jerusalem Global Ventures (JGV), Motorola Ventures, and Walden Israel - participated in the round. Greylock Partners made its first investment in the company.

Camero develops and manufactures see-through-wall imaging systems for rescue services, anti-terrorist units, and the military. The present financing round was closed after the company installed its system with a number of customers. The company has raised $20 million to date, including the present round.

Camero launched its prototype four months ago, and subsequently posted $1 million in sales. The systems together with comprehensive service, training and support manuals, were sold to special forces units of several countries,

Camero CEO Aharon Aharon and CTO Amir Beeri founded the company at JGV. Aharon previously worked for 15 years at IBM Israel’s research division, and was CEO of Zoran Corp. (Nasdaq: ZRAN) and Siemens AG subsidiary Seabridge Networks Ltd. Beeri served in Israel’s intelligence services, and was VP R&D of ADC Israel and CEO of Infineon Technologies Savan Ltd.

Aharon said, “Camero’s products tie together many technologies from different fields to create a one-of-a-kind product. Our target markets are governments. Unlike other Israeli start-ups, we also have a market in Israel. We launched our product a few months ago, and have begun marketing. We’ve already had $1 million in sales, and agreements with governments to test the product with units in Israel, the US, and the UK. We’re getting very good feedback.

“Immediately after the product launch, we quickly readied for our second financing round. Now that the money is in the bank, we’ll expand the company’s activity. We’ve opened an office in Washington, and we plan to bring the technology to the production stage and strengthen our sales, product development and marketing activity in Israel and the US.”

“Globes”: What are your target markets?

Aharon: Our first three markets are the military-security market, law enforcement, and rescue services. We’re building a smaller and cheaper product more suited for search and rescue units. Another use of our technology is precise detector that can create a 3D image, which can be widely applied, and will enter the development stage later.”

Where will Camero be in 18 months?

“We’ll expand sales, and we expect to start receiving projects from institutions in 2008. The company is deployed for this.”

JGV is excited by Camero’s financing round. JGV founding partner Shlomo Kalish said, “We’re celebrating another success by Camero, which is meeting all its targets. We and the company’s other shareholders are full of appreciation for the company’s management, who are steadily marching it forward and achieving the targets as planned.”

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on January 8, 2007

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2006

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