W!LDBRAIN Closes $30 Million in Financing
Investment Fuels W!LDBRAIN's Continued Successful Foray into Feature Film Development; Two New Members Added to W!LDBRAIN Board of Directors
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - November 29, 2004 - W!LDBRAIN, Inc., a leading producer of animated entertainment, today announced its closing of $30 Million in funding led by Valence Capital Management. In addition to Valence Capital, W!LDBRAIN's existing investors, including Syntek Capital AG, demonstrated their continued commitment through their significant participation in the funding. In conjunction with the financing, W!LDBRAIN adds two new members to the Company's Board of Directors including Roy Thiele-Sardiña, Managing Director, Valence Capital LLC and James A. Caccavo, Managing Partner, Valence Capital Management.
The funding arrives on the heels of W!LDBRAIN's recent 3D CGI animation deal with Miramax Films and Dimension Films, whereby each company is co-financing and co-producing computer-generated (CGI) animated films. W!LDBRAIN is currently in production on "Opus" - its first joint production with Miramax and Dimension Films which Craig Mazin ("Scary Movie 3") will adapt from an idea by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and illustrator, Berkeley Breathed.
W!LDBRAIN will use the proceeds to further accelerate and support its production of feature film, commercial advertising and television properties.
"W!LDBRAIN is focused on a hot market," commented Roy Thiele-Sardiña, Managing Director, Valence Capital LLC. "Currently three of the top four U.S. feature films are animated movies. We're excited about working with the W!LDBRAIN team and believe that the additional financing will help fuel W!LDBRAIN's success in this lucrative business arena."
"Our original deal with Miramax and Dimension Films included the production of multiple animated features. This additional funding signifies we are following through on our promise to produce a series of films, and continue to support our development of commercial advertising and television properties," said Jeff Fino, Executive Producer, W!LDBRAIN Roy Thiele-Sardiña is a Managing Director of Valence Capital LLC. Mr. Thiele-Sardiña has over 20 years of computer technology experience. He was previously the Managing Partner of HighBAR Ventures. He was a co-founder & CEO of Ingrian Networks, a leading data privacy provider, a co-founder & CEO of Tasmania Network Systems, a cache proxy company that was acquired by Cisco Systems. Mr. Thiele Sardina was also a member of the founding management team for Brocade Communications Systems (NASDAQ: BRCD). Prior to Brocade, Mr. Thiele-Sardiña was with Sun Microsystems for 11 years. While at Sun, Mr. Thiele-Sardiña was responsible for Sun's Corporate Development Organization in the office of the Chairman. Mr. Thiele-Sardiña holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.B.A. from New York University, Stern School of Business.
James A. Caccavo is the Managing Partner of Valence Capital Management. Valence is a joint venture created through the spinout of Moore Capital Management's Private Equity Group. Prior to forming Valence, Mr. Caccavo was the Managing Director of Moore Capital's Private Equity Group. Before joining Moore Capital, he was president and CEO of Tickets.com. From 1988 to 1996, Mr. Caccavo was a founder and senior executive of Sullivan Communications, helping build it into a leading graphic arts company. He began his career in finance at Merrill Lynch and GTE Corporation. He is a director of several privately-held companies, including: Archimedes Technology Group, Avexus, Naked Juice, Premier Retail Networks (PRN) and Scene7. He holds a B.S. in Economics and Finance from the University of Scranton.
Valence Capital Management, LP is a New York based private equity firm which serves as the private equity arm of Moore Capital Management, one of the largest hedge funds in the world. Valence invests in leading late stage venture-backed and middle-market companies in the Information Technology, Media, Consumer Products, and Business Services markets. Valence manages over 25 portfolio investments, including: Archimedes Technology, Arkivio, Avexus, Berkeley Heart Labs, Naked Juice, Privasys, PRN, Scene7 and Storactive.