Infinia Corporation Secures $9.5 Million in Venture Financing

KENNEWICK, Wash--(BUSINESS WIRE)--INFINIA Corporation, a leading developer of Stirling engine based products and technologies, today announced that the company has received $9.5 million in new venture funding. Khosla Ventures of Menlo Park, CA, Vulcan Capital of Seattle, WA, EQUUS Total Return, Inc. of Houston, TX, and Idealab of Pasadena, CA joined existing investor Power Play Energy, LLC of New Canaan, CT in the financing round. The deal also includes the acquisition of Stirling Cycles, a company developing Stirling engine technology, from Idealab for an undisclosed sum.

“We are very pleased to welcome each of these new partners – they are an impressive and accomplished group and we know their guidance and involvement will allow us to accelerate our product development programs and expand our customer reach.”

Operating without internal combustion, a Stirling engine utilizes a temperature differential to drive a piston and produce electricity. Along with other Stirling based products, INFINIA is focused on commercializing a Stirling power system operating on concentrated solar energy for commercial and residential users. The Solar Stirling product is expected to be available in 2008. The new funds will be used to further the company’s sales and product development programs and for company operations.

“Our Stirling engines are unique – they are reliable, can be manufactured inexpensively, operate on many different heat sources and provide a platform for energy products that will change the way the world generates and utilizes energy,” said J.D. Sitton, CEO of INFINIA. “We are very pleased to welcome each of these new partners – they are an impressive and accomplished group and we know their guidance and involvement will allow us to accelerate our product development programs and expand our customer reach.”

In addition to the concentrated solar product, INFINIA and its partners are commercializing high efficiency combined heat and power products for the global appliance industry and are developing a unique, bio-gas fired Stirling generator to provide electricity and thermal energy for rural areas of developing countries.

“We have always believed in the tremendous potential of Stirling technologies for clean commercial and residential power generation and are excited to be backing the efforts of INFINIA,” said Idealab CEO Bill Gross, who will join the INFINIA board of directors. “We were greatly impressed with the potential we saw in INFINIA and we look forward to working with them and the other investors to commercialize new Stirling-based products that we believe will have a huge impact on the energy markets.” Stirling Cycles, Inc. was founded by Idealab in 2005 to develop and commercialize quiet, clean and portable Stirling engines. The company’s efforts started as part of Idealab's solar concentrator company, Energy Innovations, and then grew to be an independent company focused on developing stand alone Stirling products from a distinctly commercial perspective.

Sharon Clayton, Vice Chairman of EQUUS, will also be joining the INFINIA board of directors. Ms. Clayton stated, “The Fund seeks to invest in small cap companies with significant growth potential. Our business development strategy contemplates opportunities in twenty-first century trend sectors, including alternative energy. INFINIA is a great fit and we look forward to working with this dynamic company and its strong management team.”

About INFINIA Corporation

INFINIA Corporation has been successfully developing and delivering innovative Stirling engines and generators since 1985. INFINIA’s proven, reliable, proprietary free-piston Stirling engine technology is at the core of residential combined heat and power appliances being commercialized by Rinnai in Asia and Bosch and Enatec in Europe and is suitable for many long-life, zero-maintenance applications. INFINIA’s mission is to improve the quality of life by changing how the world generates and uses energy.

About Khosla Ventures

Khosla Ventures offers venture assistance, strategic advice and capital to entrepreneurs. The firm helps entrepreneurs extend the potential of their ideas in both traditional venture areas like the Internet, computing, mobile, and silicon technology arenas but also supports breakthrough scientific work in clean technology areas such as bio-refineries for energy and bioplastics, solar, battery and other environmentally friendly technologies. Vinod Khosla was formerly a General Partner at Kleiner Perkins and founder of Sun Microsystems. Vinod has been labeled the #1 VC by Forbes and Fortune recently labeled him as one the nation's most influential ethanol advocates, noting "there are venture capitalists, and there's Vinod Khosla." Vinod Khosla founded the firm in 2004 and was joined by partners David Weiden and Samir Kaul, as well as chief scientific officer Doug Cameron in 2006. Khosla Ventures is based in Menlo Park, California.

About Vulcan Capital

Vulcan Capital is the investment arm of Vulcan Inc., the project and investment management company founded by Paul G. Allen in 1986 to manage his personal and business initiatives. Vulcan Capital is focused on generating long-term value appreciation across a multibillion dollar portfolio, which spans diverse industry sectors and investment asset classes, ranging from early-stage venture investments to public equity value investing, leveraged buyouts, acquisitions and distressed situations.

About EQUUS

EQUUS Total Return, Inc. is a business development company that trades as a closed-end fund on the New York Stock Exchange, under the symbol "EQS". EQUUS is managed by MCC Global NV, a Frankfurt stock exchange listed management and merchant banking group with significant experience in the alternative energy industry. Additional information may be obtained at www.equuscap.com and www.mccglobal.com.

About Idealab

Idealab’s mission is to create and operate pioneering technology companies. Founded in 1996 by entrepreneur Bill Gross, Idealab provides a broad range of operational support to its companies, allowing the operating company management teams to focus on getting to market quickly and cost-effectively, and to take advantage of the serial start-up experience of the Idealab team. Bill Gross and Idealab have founded companies such as Energy Innovations, Overture Services, Inc., CitySearch, Picasa and InternetBrands. Current operating companies are providing innovative technology solutions in industries such as software, search, 3D printing and alternative energy fields. Additional information can be found at www.idealab.com.

About Power Play Energy, LLC

Power Play Energy, LLC, is a private equity company based in Connecticut that owns alternative energy-related intellectual property and assets.

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements regarding future circumstances. These forward-looking statements are based upon the Company’s current expectations and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements including, in particular, the risks and uncertainties described in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results, events, and performance may differ. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as to the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. The inclusion of any statement in this release does not constitute an admission by the Company or any other person that the events or circumstances described in such statements are material.