Alien Technology Enters Agreement for $35 Million in New Investments to Advance RFID Business

Alien Technology, an industry leader in RFID UHF products and services, announced it has signed a definitive agreement that will result in $35 million in new investments via an international joint venture.

The new funds are aimed at helping accelerate company growth through the increased development of new technologies. The additional investments will also help provide Alien a solid financial foundation, demonstrating Alien shareholder confidence in the RFID market and affirming Alien’s growing leadership position within that market.

Both the new investor, Shanghai Ruizhang Investment Co., Ltd., and Alien’s current investors believe the company has a strong brand, an exceptional team and a leading product portfolio that includes RFID chips, tags, readers and services. The investors also believe in future growth in the RFID market and the position that Alien can attain in the industry. Alien remains an independent operating company with its headquarters in Morgan Hill, CA, and no operational changes are planned.

The Alien Technology Board of Directors also announced that Chris Chang has been appointed to the role of CEO. Prior to joining Alien, Chang was responsible for overseeing Marvell Technology Group’s business strategy, sales and marketing, business development and government relationship for the Greater China Region. At Marvell, Chang drove key strategic partnerships with China service providers and industry players that resulted in double-digit revenue growth.

Chang earned a master’s degree in business Administration from The Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin.

“Our goal has been to find strategic investors that not only bring funds, but also add other value to our business, and we have identified Ruizhang that meets these needs. We believe that this capital injection makes Alien one of the strongest pure-play RFID companies in the industry,” said Chang. “Alien remains totally committed to the UHF Passive RFID market, our customers, partners and suppliers. This investment enables the current industry-leading Alien team to accelerate our strategy of driving new technologies and innovations into the market to the benefit of our customers and partners.”

“Alien was a key, founding father of the passive RFID Industry, authoring the Gen 1 Class 1 standard and serving as a key driver of the current Gen 2 standard. Alien is the only company in the industry that designs its own IC, Inlays and Readers, and the company has been instrumental in the recent retail item-level adoption expansion,” said Ann Grackin of ChainLink Research. “We expect the UHF market to grow over 285 a year over the next five years. The market needs laser focus and innovations that a company such as Alien can bring to the volume RFID market. With this kind of funding, explosive market adoption is suddenly within reach.”