FPAA developer gets second-round funds

FPAA developer gets second-round funds
By Ian Cameron, EE Times
March 1, 2001 (11:42 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20010301S0037

LONDON — Anadigm Ltd., a field-programmable analog array (FPAA) developer formerly known as Anadyne Microelectronics Ltd., has secured about $14 million in second-round funding.

Executives said the funding would sustain Anadigm (Crewe, England) for the next couple of years, until the point at which it expects to be profitable. The bulk of the capital will be used to double the company's head count, said Mike Kay, chief executive officer of Anadigm.

"We are in a pretty heavy growth period. We are at 23 people, going up to 47 this year. Almost all of the funding is into manpower — it always is in companies this size. But there's a large element in the marketing and selling side," Kay said.

The jobs will be split between the company's main research and development center in Crewe and a software development centre in Phoenix. Kay said the capital would sustain Anadigm for two to three years. "We've got a good 24 months, nearer to 36 months. We've got a good opportunity of showing profit in 2003," he said.

Revenues, expected to be in the "low millions" this year, are broadly expected to be 50 percent U.S.-based, but Kay said that early adopters had proved to be particularly strong in Japan and Europe.

Capital will also be available for development of the company's second-generation FPAA, which would be released "early to mid next year," according to Kay.

The latest funding round was led by 3i and Quester — which also led the start-up round early in 2000 — and Japanese group NIF Ventures.

Ian Cameron is business editor of Electronics Times, EE Times' sister paper in the United Kingdom.