nH !lul\l/dY Aq 030,1 d Ask about our early lease termination 2003 LINCOLN AVIATOR 499 36 months S2,050 Down /19 IT .A' #1 In Sales & Service 6 Years Running 49251 Cxntnd River Ave. at Wixom Rd. Israeli physicist Uri Sivan, biophysicist Erez Braun and chemist Yoav Eichen go over details of their work on miniature electrical circuits in their Technion o ce in Haifa. The three scientists spent two years working on a revolutionary idea to make computers smaller by using DNA molecules to 'grow" miniature circuitry. 24S-305-5300 NVWW.varsitylinemere.eom Open Saturdftys 8:30-5:00 ''flits to mid rebntes to dealer eb,,sed-end !ease 36..ti1)t) ability to withstand persistent security problems. Few Sprouts _ The IVC survey divided high-tech companies into four categories: seed, early stage, mid-stage and late-stage. During the past two years, early and mid-stage companies raised the largest amounts of capital. Mid-stage companies attracted 54 percent of total investments in 2002, with $614 million, while early-stage companies garnered 29 percent of the total, a 40_ percent slide. Seed companies are hardly being supported at all by the investment community: They received only 2 per- cent, or $23 million, of total financ- ing in 2002, and only 19 seed-stage start-ups received any VC backing. Considering that seed companies were already down to 5 percent of total financing in 2001, and seed and early- stage companies together attracted less than one-third of investment in 2002, the figures are likely to discourage entrepreneurs from going out on their own. "The continuing decline in invest- ments in 2002 especially impacted seed companies," Holtzman said. Nearly all sectors of the high-tech industry suffered in 2002 as compared with 2001, though the communica- tions sector fared best, attracting 37 percent of total investment. Software companies were also popu- lar in 2002, with a 20 percent share of total financing. The Internet sector, on the other hand, collapsed to a new low, attracting only 4 percent of total investment. Semiconductor firms ran counter to this trend — raising 12 percent of the total, triple the previous year's 4 per- cent — as investors handed Israel's innovative microchip industry a vote of confidence. In fact, Intel's latest chip, the Centrino — which is scheduled to be unveiled next week to great fanfare — was developed in Israel. In what might be a harbinger of the future, however, the fourth quarter of 2002 saw life science companies — especially those developing medical devices — more than doubling the financing they raised in the third quarter. Life sciences companies ended the year with a 15 percent share of total financing. With universally respected research powerhouses such as the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology and Hebrew University — all of which have spawned government-supported biotech incubators or spun off for- profit commercialization arms — plus the Rehovot Science Park, Israel is at the forefront of advanced life sciences, which offer the prospect of better medical treatment and drug therapies. Riding this trend — Forbes maga- zine reports that 20 percent of VC investment worldwide went to life science companies last year, up dra- matically from 8 percent in 2000 — is likely to be healthy for Israel's economy, as well as for patients everywhere. ni allred of west Assisted. Living from $3,400 per month ux/ ve Y liCe t om " /(- 6del, Orchard Lake Rd. South of Lone Pine Rd. West Pdoomiiekt Nichion 248.683.1010 ❑ 3/21 2003 25