XMOS Semiconductor secures 16 million USD for Software Defined Silicon

-- XMOS Semiconductor, the creator of Software Defined Silicon (SDS) chips, has secured 16 million USD of Series A venture capital funding. The funding is being provided by Foundation Capital and existing investors Amadeus Capital Partners and DFJ Esprit.

XMOS has created a new category of semiconductors for consumer electronics applications that need high performance, low manufacturing cost and extreme design flexibility – at a price point and a time-to-market that promises to revolutionise the consumer electronics ASIC and ASSP markets.

XMOS’s reprogrammable software defined silicon chips provide high volume consumer electronics system designers with an adaptable, economic alternative to standard products. Targeting the $1- $10 price range these devices are ideal for high volume consumer electronics applications where they offer high degrees of flexibility to differentiate products and react quickly to changes in standards or functions. Silicon, development tools and software components will sample to lead customers through Q4 and be broadly available from Q1 2008.

XMOS CEO James Foster said, “XMOS has assembled an outstanding team of people clearly focused on delivering this industry-changing technology to its customers. We are thrilled to welcome Foundation, and to have the continued support of our founding investors at Amadeus and DFJ Esprit.”

“Foundation is very excited to be involved with XMOS and to be able to support the global roll-out of the company’s unique technology,” said Bill Elmore of Foundation Capital. “As the pioneer in software defined silicon, XMOS is well positioned to dominate the consumer electronics space.” Elmore will join the XMOS board of directors.

Dr. Hermann Hauser of Amadeus Capital Partners said, “We are delighted to continue our support of XMOS. The speed at which the company’s technology has moved from University science to a commercial proposition has been remarkable. Customer reaction has been extremely positive and SDS has the opportunity to be a truly disruptive technology.” Hauser will also join the XMOS board of directors.

Alan Duncan, a partner with Esprit Capital Partners and a director of XMOS added “We are very pleased with the progress that XMOS has made since our investment last year and have been greatly encouraged by the level of interest in their products already being shown by some of the world’s leading consumer electronics companies.”

Heller Ehrman advised XMOS on the Series A funding round; the investors were advised by Taylor Wessing and Cooley Godward.

About XMOS Semiconductor

XMOS Semiconductor is developing Software Defined Silicon (SDS) devices, development tools and software IP that will bring low cost flexibility to consumer electronic product design. XMOS technology unifies the hardware and software worlds in one development environment which enables many former hardware functions to be implemented in software. It achieves this through the design of its event driven multi-threaded processor, the XCore, and its XC programming language, the two key components of the XMOS technology. Founded in July 2005 by Prof David May, James Foster and Hitesh Mehta and headquartered in the UK, XMOS Semiconductor is funded by the Sulis Fund and its venture capital investors Amadeus Capital Partners, DFJ Esprit and Foundation Capital. For more information, visit www.xmos.com

About Amadeus (www.amadeuscapital.com)

Amadeus is one of Europe’s leading technology investors. Since its inception in 1997, the firm has backed over 60 companies covering computer hardware and software, mobile and fixed communications technologies and medical technologies. Investments include Cambridge Silicon Radio, producing single chip bluetooth radios for short range connections and floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2004, Optos, a manufacturer of laser retinal scanners which had a successful IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2006, PacketFront, a Swedish company providing systems to manage end-to-end delivery of multiple broadband services, Valista, an electronic payments company and Solexa, the developer of next generation genetic analysis systems, merged with Illumina Inc. In Spring 2007, Amadeus closed its third fund on £162 million.

About DFJEsprit

DFJ Esprit invests in technology, new media, telecoms and healthcare businesses. With over 130 years of investing experience between its partners and over 130 investments made, DFJ Esprit has one of the most experienced teams and longest track records in European venture capital. DFJ Esprit has helped build some of the most successful European venture-backed businesses of recent years. These recent successes include KVS, Alphamosaic, Fillfactory, DNA Research Innovations, BlackSpider and Neteconomy. DFJ Esprit is part of the Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) Global Network with 120 investment professionals in more than 30 cities around the world. In the last twenty years the DFJ Network has backed over 300 companies including Hotmail, Baidu and Skype. For further information, please visit www.dfjesprit.com

About Foundation Capital

Founded in 1995, Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm committed to supporting entrepreneurs and their companies, targeting innovative opportunities in telecommunications and networking; Internet infrastructure; and enterprise software and on demand services. Foundation Capital funds total more than $1.6 billion. For more information, visit www.foundationcapital.com.