[January 02, 2013]

Square 1 Bank Announces $5 Million Credit Facility to Kovio, Inc.

Square 1 Bank, the premier banking partner to entrepreneurs and the venture capital community, is pleased to provide a $5 million debt facility to new, San Jose-based client, Kovio, Inc., whose investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, DAG Ventures, and Tyco, among others. Proceeds of the credit facility will be used to support the company's growth.

Kovio's innovative high-performance printed silicon manufacturing platform enables scalable item-level Near Field Communication (NFC) technology for branded product and retail markets. Kovio's recently released Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) product improves the retail experience for shoppers while enhancing loss prevention for retailers. Its soon to be released NFC Barcode^TM products enable real-time, customizable interaction between consumers, brands, and retailers.

"We are excited to support Kovio. We believe the company is well positioned to take advantage of a large and growing market opportunity by solving economic and technological chalenges to bring item-level intelligence to reality," said Andy Weyer, vice president of Square 1 Bank.

"We have truly been impressed with the level of professionalism and service that we have received from the Square 1 team," said Amir Mashkoori, CEO of Kovio. "We transitioned our financial services to Square 1 Bank because of their excellent reputation as a bank that values strong client relationships and understands the venture debt and banking needs of emerging growth companies."

Sam Bhaumik, executive vice president in Square 1's Silicon Valley office, added "with an experienced management team at the helm and a group of prominent investors standing behind them, we believe that Kovio is poised for success and will revolutionize the shopping experience. We are proud to include Kovio as a member of the Square 1 Bank family."

About Square 1 Bank

Square 1 Bank is a full service commercial bank dedicated exclusively to serving the financial needs of the venture capital community and entrepreneurs in all stages of growth and expansion. Square 1's expertise, focus and strong capital base provide flexible resources and unmatched support to meet our clients' needs. The bank offers tailored products and solutions aided by the latest in technological innovations. Square 1 has offices coast to coast in Austin, Boston, Denver, Durham, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, Seattle, Silicon Valley and Washington, DC. For more information, visit www.square1bank.com.

About Kovio, Inc.

Kovio, Inc., a privately held Silicon Valley company with origins in the world renowned MIT (News - Alert) Media Lab, designs, develops, and manufactures printed silicon products for Near Field Communication (NFC) and Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) markets, including Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and NFC Barcodes. By combining the power and functionality of high-performance silicon inks and low-cost graphics printing technology, Kovio enables its customers and partners to deploy innovative products and solutions in the areas of mobile marketing and advertising, brand authentication, retail operations, and ticketing. For more information about Kovio, visit http://www.kovio.com.

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