Alien Technology, struggling radio tag company, raises $33M more

April 25, 2007 | Matt Marshall

Alien Technology, the company in Morgan Hill, Calif., that failed in its audacious effort to go public last year, has raised another $33 million in financing.

Alien filed to go public last year, while losing money on every sale of its radio frequency identification (RFID), and was forced to withdraw when markets wouldn’t support it. See our coverage here. Mark Perry, partner with NEA, a backer of Alien said in November he hoped to raise $50 million for the company, so the latest round raises questions. Its IPO filings showed that from January through March 2006 alone, the company burned through $15.7 million in cash.

Alien couldn’t convince new investors to help it. The latest round of financing came from insiders: Advanced Equities and Sunbridge Partners led the round, which also included Rho Ventures and NEA. The company has raised more than $291 million in its 13 year history, and has yet to make money.

RFIDs are radio tags that can transmit data to a receiver, and are often used to place on products for more efficient supply-chain management.

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About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.