The new business, dubbed Appairent Technologies, will develop technology for wireless transmission of high-quality video, still images and data, Kodak said.
The Monroe Fund, a private venture capital fund managed by a unit of Rochester, N.Y.-based Trillium Group, is also investing in Appairent. Kodak did not disclose the amount of money the new company will get, but said it does plan to contribute patents and patent applications to the new venture.
Kodak, which for decades has been virtually synonymous with film photography, has been struggling in recent months, in part because of a market shift from film to digital photographs. The company experienced another blow this week when its president and chief operating officer, Patricia Russo, who had been seen as a key part of a hoped-for turnaround, left to take over the CEO spot at Lucent Technologies. Russo had been with Kodak for nine months.
Ted Wurzburg, who formerly served as entrepreneur-in-residence at Trillium, will be CEO of Appairent.
Kodak announced in November that it was reorganizing its corporate structure and eliminating some businesses and product lines.