Wisair Secures $24 Million in Funding

– Wisair, a leading provider of single-chip based Ultra Wideband (UWB) and Wireless USB (WUSB) solutions, today announced that it has secured $24 million in its latest round of funding. The financing included four new international investors and was led by Susquehanna Growth Equity (SGE), a US-based private equity fund investing in growth capital and late stage venture opportunities. SGE was joined by European-based Advent Venture Partners (‘Advent Ventures’), Bridge Capital Fund of Japan (an affiliate of Nikko Antfactory), and Yasuda Ventures. Existing Wisair investors also participated, and included Apax Partners, Broadcom, Intel Capital, Vertex, and Zisapel brothers from the RAD group.

“Wisair has made a number of remarkable accomplishments in the WUSB market space over the past few years, with the most recent milestone being the delivery of the regulation and standards-approved WSR601 single-die CMOS chip” noted Jonathan Klahr of SGE. “This additional funding will enable Wisair to accelerate the release of products with integrated WUSB capabilities to satisfy the burgeoning demand for simple high-speed wireless connectivity in the consumer electronics industry.”

Commenting on this round of investment, Martin McNair, general partner at Advent Ventures, said: “We were drawn to Wisair because of its exceptional record of delivering high frequency, mixed signal WUSB CMOS solutions on time and to specification. Wisair’s market-ready, single-chip technology is poised to play a major role in the WUSB market, which is now fully set to experience rapid growth over the next few years. We look forward to working with Wisair and helping it expand technology partnerships throughout Europe.”

About Advent Ventures
Advent Ventures is one of the most experienced venture capital firms in Europe. Established in 1981 it invests in both the Technology and Life Sciences sectors. Advent Ventures has raised over $1 billion from institutional investors across Europe and the USA since 1998. Advent Ventures’ Technology investments include Ubiquisys (fixed-mobile convergence technology), Snell & Wilcox (digital media), Echovox (mobile media solutions), Qype (local review website) and Dailymotion (video sharing website). For further information, see www.adventventures.com.

About Bridge Capital Fund L.P./Nikko Antfactory K.K
Nikko antfactory K.K., established in 2001, is a leading Private Equity and Venture Capital firm in Japan with $1.2 billion under management and a broad portfolio of investments. Bridge Capital Fund (BCF) is an affiliate fund of Nikko antfactory that specializes in investments in technology-driven international companies and in Japanese companies that commercialize such technologies. BCF generates value by helping companies to bridge the gap between the limited availability of venture technology funding in Japan and the high appreciation of publicly listed technology companies on the Japanese stock market. For additional information, see http://www.antfactory.jp/english/.

About Susquehanna Growth Equity (SGE)
Susquehanna Growth Equity, LLP (SGE) invests in growth capital and late stage venture opportunities in the financial technology, software, business services, and technology sectors. SGE is an affiliate of Susquehanna International Group, LLP (SIG), a privately held financial institution specializing in trading and market making. SIG includes affiliated entities in institutional sales, research, private equity, venture capital, and investment banking, and has offices across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. For more information, see www.sgep.com.

About Yasuda Ventures
Yasuda Enterprise Development is one of the most experienced VC firms in Japan and has achieved hundreds of exits through almost 40 years of history. Leveraging its strong network among Japanese corporations, Yasuda Enterprise Development actively invests in technology startups globally, including: semiconductor, software, cleantech and biotech.

About Wisair
Wisair is a fabless semiconductor company providing Ultra Wideband (UWB) and Certified Wireless USB solutions based on its CMOS single chip. Adopted by leading brands around the world, Wisair’s host and device solutions are recognized for their superior coverage, range and throughput. For more information, visit www.wisair.com.