Led · Equity · Nov 2014

Cavendish Kinetics develops high-performance RF MEMS radio components, including its SmarTune tuners with a MIPI RFFE interface. Its first-generation RF MEMS tuners have fully ramped and been shipping in volume since 2014, and the company cites MEMS cycle life beyond 100 billion cycles. The firm is introducing a new generation that adds virtually loss-less RF MEMS switches and increases tuning range and RF voltage handling. Those components target radio front-end applications such as antenna, filter and power amplifier tuning and ultra-low loss switching of the RF signal path. Samples of the new generation were scheduled for availability in Q1 2016, with volume production planned for the second half of 2016. Cavendish is headquartered in San Jose, CA, and maintains offices in Dallas, China, Korea, and the Netherlands. Cavendish Kinetics designs RF MEMS tuning solutions (SmarTuners) for mobile and wearable devices to improve radio performance, data throughput and battery life. Its SmarTuners have been qualified beyond 50 billion cycles and have been shipping in volume since 2014. The company announced its first commercial product launch earlier this year and is securing customer design-wins, including the nubia Z7 LTE smartphone which uses Cavendish’s tuner to meet China Mobile’s 2GHz LTE requirements. Cavendish says its solutions address spectrum and battery-efficiency challenges in smartphones and wireless networks. The company operates offices in San Jose, CA as well as Korea, Taiwan, China and The Netherlands. Recent funding will support scaling customer engagements and product adoption. Cavendish Kinetics designs and manufactures tunable RF components based on its proprietary NanoMech™ process technology. Its initial products target antenna tuners and impedance-matching devices for mobile devices, with sampling expected early in 2012. The company partners with major semiconductor, module, and handset makers to create tunable RF front ends that help meet size, performance, and cost challenges across global mobile networks. Cavendish said it will use the financing proceeds to produce RF tuning products based on NanoMech. The company has offices in The Netherlands and San Jose, California. Management named in the release includes CEO Dennis Yost and chairman Luiz Arzubi, and the board was expanded to include RF industry veterans Paul Dal Santo and Moiz Beguwala. Cavendish Kinetics develops Nanomech micro-mechanical memory elements and integrates them into standard CMOS to provide embedded non-volatile memory. The company is shifting development emphasis to embedded non-volatile re-programmable Nanomech-based memory and states its embedded flash technology is positioned to meet demands for ultra-low power, robust CMOS-compatible embedded NVM. Target application markets include automotive, microcontroller, and analog/mixed-signal applications. Cavendish aims to expand its market presence among IDMs, fabless semiconductor companies and CMOS foundries. The company is a spin-off of Cambridge University and was founded by Professor Charles G. Smith. The new funding will be used to continue development of Nanomech technology and expand market presence.

Led · Equity · Sep 2014

Ikanos Communications supplies broadband communications semiconductors and related software. Its chip portfolio includes VDSL, VDSL2 vectoring, the Neos G.fast platform (in prototype), and gateway devices. The company acquired Conexant’s broadband semiconductor line in 2009, which brought in PON device IP. Ikanos is exploring strategies to extend its core business and has signaled potential interest in PON technology to leverage that acquired IP. CEO Omid Tahernia said the company will collaborate with Alcatel‑Lucent on the development of ultra‑broadband products while maintaining non‑exclusive development. Ikanos announced a new $16.25 million financing and plans to use proceeds for working capital, general corporate purposes, and capital expenditures.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2013

Wilocity develops 60 GHz wireless chipsets that enable short-range multi-gigabit (1–5 Gbps) communications for mobile computing, consumer electronics, and peripherals. The company began selling its chipsets in 2012 and its first products were integrated with Dell laptops earlier in the year. Wilocity heads the WiGig consortium, which was founded in 2009 to establish the new industry standard alongside members such as Broadcom, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, Qualcomm, and Samsung. The company was founded in 2007 and its leadership team includes CEO Tal Tamir, COO Danny Rettig, VP communications architecture Gal Basson, and VP products and sales Jorge Myszne. Wilocity will use the proceeds from the recent financing to expand partnerships and enter the smartphone market, and plans to have a product on the market by the end of 2014. According to IVC, Wilocity has raised $70 million to date.

Led · Series D · Aug 2013

Morphlabs builds OpenStack-powered mCloud solutions that integrate optimized hardware and best-of-breed software for service providers and enterprises. Its mCloud products use a next-generation modular architecture that integrates compute, storage and networking to reduce IT costs and accelerate time to market. The company plans to use Series D proceeds to extend its leadership in the Asia OpenStack market through an aggressive training and seminar program and via its partnership with NEC. Morphlabs is launching a series of OpenStack training programs across Asia including Manila, Jakarta, Singapore, Cebu and Hong Kong, and is hosting a StackHack hackathon with summit attendance for the winners. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Los Angeles, Morphlabs also operates in the Philippines, Japan and Singapore. The company has raised $22.5 million in total capital since inception. MorphLabs provides a Platform-as-a-Service that virtualizes application environments via open-source technologies. Its core product set includes a server appliance, the mCloud Controller, which assists clients with provisioning, billing and virtual machine management. The company has ten data center clients. MorphLabs plans to use its new funding to expand into the Southeast Asia region. It will open data centers in Indonesia and the Philippines. The company has raised a total of $12 million to date, including the latest round. Morphlabs offers a Platform as a Service (PaaS) that virtualizes the application environment through the use of open source technologies. The company provides a private cloud appliance, the mCloud Controller, which helps clients with provisioning, billing and virtual machine management. Morphlabs raised $5.5 million in Series B funding led by Global Gateway Investment Group. The round included participation from Frontera Group, CSK Venture Capital, and AO Capital Partners and brings the company’s total funding to $7 million. The funding will be used to accelerate expansion in the United States and Asia.

Participated · Series B · Jun 2012

Astute Networks develops networked Flash solutions including its patented DataPump Engine™ and Networked Performance Flash architecture, delivered in the ViSX family of flash‑optimized appliances. The company’s technology is designed to accelerate virtual machine and application performance on major virtualization platforms such as VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper‑V, Citrix XenServer, and Red Hat RHEV. Led by CEO Steve Topper and based in San Diego, CA, Astute targets virtualized server, desktop, and cloud computing environments. The company closed a $12M Series B to support growth. It plans to use the proceeds to expand global sales, marketing, channel development, and support efforts. The funding will also finance ongoing innovation of its core DataPump Engine, Networked Performance Flash, and related technologies. Astute Networks is a San Diego-based provider of ATCA bladed storage solutions. Its systems are used worldwide by customers in telecommunications, military, aerospace, government and other mission-critical markets. The company developed a 10Gb iSCSI ATCA storage blade designed to support the bandwidth needs of next-generation applications. Astute Networks received a "significant" capital investment from Tallwood Venture Capital. The investment is intended to enable the company to expand its existing customer base and enhance its portfolio of ATCA bladed storage products. The article does not disclose financial details beyond the investment's description.