Ciespace Secures $4 Million Series A for 3D Digital Modeling Software - Names Kevin Kerns as Chief Executive Officer

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Ciespace Corporation, a privately held engineering software company, announced today that it has secured $4 million in a Series A funding from a consortium of investors, led by ARCH Venture Partners (ARCH) and the University of Tokyo-Edge Capital (UTEC). Ciespace will use this capital to advance the company's innovative 3D digital modeling platform and bring this exciting new technology to the commercial marketplace.

The company's patented BubbleMesh™ technology, developed by Dr. Kenji Shimada, Founder and former CEO of Ciespace and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, is already in use by more than 50 companies worldwide, including major corporations such as Honda R&D, IBM Corporation, NASA, and Toray Industries, Inc.  The company's advanced digital modeling platform allows customers to generate high quality virtual prototypes automatically – beyond the scope of products currently available in the market today.  This technology has broad application beyond traditional automotive, aerospace and industrial computer-aided design, including computer animation, medical imaging and metrology. 

Keith Crandell, a managing partner at ARCH Venture Partners, stated, "After a thorough analysis of BubbleMesh™ and its various commercial applications, we strongly believe that Ciespace's digital modeling technology will have a dramatic impact on how engineering design is done in the future."

The company also named Kevin Kerns as Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining Ciespace, Mr. Kerns worked as a consultant and Entrepreneur-in-Residence to ARCH Venture Partners. From 1996 to 2004, he served as CEO of Apropos Technology, Inc., a leading provider of multimedia communications software for call centers. As CEO, Mr. Kerns was responsible for building Apropos into one of the premier manufacturers of call center technology, growing sales from $300,000 to over $30 million in five years. Prior to Apropos, Mr. Kerns held the position of president and CEO of CASE Technology, Inc., a leading developer of electronic design automation solutions.

"Personally, I'm excited about working with Dr. Shimada on this new technology venture," states Kerns. "Dr. Shimada is considered to be a true innovator in the field of 3D digital modeling. I am pleased to have the opportunity to work together with him, and his talented team, to promote his technology and advance his work in this field."

Dr. Shimada stated: "I am looking forward to working with Kevin and our new investors to build a leading engineering software company in the field of 3D digital modeling and analysis."

Ted Yamamoto, a general partner with UTEC, commented, "UTEC is thrilled to work with Mr. Kerns, an experienced CEO, and Dr. Kenji Shimada, a distinguished alumnus of The University of Tokyo, in building a great global company in the new digital engineering space. Together with ARCH, UTEC will help the company accelerate its commercialization of Dr. Shimada's world class technologies at Carnegie Mellon University and expand its strong customer base beyond Japan and the United States."

About Ciespace Corporation

Ciespace develops and markets advanced 3D digital modeling and analysis solutions for the aerospace, automotive, industrial, and government markets. The company, founded by Dr. Kenji Shimada, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, is based on the patented BubbleMesh™ technology, a product of more than 18 years of advanced research in the field of 3D digital modeling. BubbleMesh™ enables the automated generation of high quality meshes for non-linear, multi-physics, and large-scale engineering analysis, which until now have been developed using costly manual labor. This automation dramatically increases the speed and quality of the engineering design process, for applications ranging from automobile crash simulation to complex fluid dynamic (CFD) and electromagnetic (EM) analysis.

About ARCH Venture Partners

ARCH Venture Partners focuses on creating early stage technology companies in the life, physical and information sciences, which emanate from universities, national laboratories and corporate research labs.  With $1.5 billion under management, ARCH has invested in the earliest rounds of more than 135 companies over a near 25 year history.  ARCH's technology specializations include semiconductors, advanced materials, clean technologies, optics and photonics, electronic components, network infrastructure and security, pharmaceuticals, genomics and bioinformatics, nano- and microtechnologies. 

About UTEC

UTEC is a seed/early stage technology focused venture capital firm associated with The University of Tokyo, in Japan. UTEC has approximately $160 million under management, and is currently investing from its second fund of approximately $80 million established in 2010. Having preferential access to the University's inventions and its network beyond, UTEC works closely with entrepreneurs and researchers as scientific founders to co-found companies which will contribute to society through business based upon innovations. UTEC has invested in 38 companies in Japan and the United States.

SOURCE Ciespace Corporation