Amadeus Capital Partners, the technology investor, has led a $40 million Series C investment in Icera Inc., a fabless semiconductor company with offices in the UK, France and Japan, which has developed the first wireless soft modem for next generation mobile phones and wireless devices. Previous investors Benchmark Capital, Accel Partners and Atlas Venture have also participated in this round.
Icera, founded in 2002, has developed a new class of generic wireless processor, DXP™, and advanced wireless soft modem technology that will support high performance HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access), current wireless standards (UMTS, GSM, EDGE and WCDMA) and the integration of future standards without hardware change. The technology provides high performance and flexibility at extremely low power, allowing OEMs to create feature combinations that differentiate their offerings in the delivery of convergent devices to consumers and avoid using the current standard platforms. Product testing is in progress with many top tier suppliers.
The Icera team is led by President and CEO Stan Boland, whom Amadeus previously backed at Element-14, a Cambridge-based developer of high port density, low power DSL chipsets, acquired by Broadcom for some $600 million. Icera’s world class semiconductor and wireless team includes Nigel Toon, VP Marketing (previously VP/GM Altera Europe), Simon Knowles, VP Silicon Design (previously Broadcom, Element14, ST Microelectronics) and Steve Allpress, VP Wireless Systems (previously Broadcom, Bell Labs), Peter Hughes, VP Silicon Operations (previously Broadcom, Element14, ST Microelectronics) and Rick Dingle, VP Platforms (previously CTO Siemens Mobile, Ericsson).
Commenting on the investment, Amadeus Director Hermann Hauser, who joins the Icera Board, says: “Icera, with its innovative architecture, has gained a significant technology advantage in baseband platforms for next generation mobile devices. If its unique wireless soft modem platform becomes established in the core of mobile phone designs, the company’s potential is huge. Because of the quality of the team and its technology, we believe this is possible.”
Stan Boland, President and CEO of Icera added: “Amadeus is an extremely experienced semiconductor venture investor, evidenced by their investment in companies such as CSR. We are delighted to welcome Amadeus as a major new investor in Icera and look forward to working with the firm as we build our business. Overall, the quality of our backers is an added endorsement of our world-class team, category-defining technology and strong market momentum.”