MOUNTAIN VIEW, Ca., April 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Cortina Systems, Inc., the
leading builder of analog and digital integrated circuits for the networking
and communications space, announced today that it has closed a $20 million
round of venture capital financing. The round, an extension of the B Round of
financing initially concluded in February 2003, was led by Kodiak Venture
Partners and joined by Hotung Capital Management, Inc., both first time
investors. Dave Furneaux, managing general partner at Kodiak, joins the
Cortina board of directors.
All of Cortina's existing venture capital investors participated in the
extension, including Morgenthaler Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, El Dorado
Ventures and INVESCO Private Capital.
"This supplemental funding, combined with the addition of two key
executives (see story 'Cortina Systems Appoints Two New Executives, Fills Out
Management Team' also released today), effectively completes the foundation
for what we believe will become a major, stand-alone semiconductor company,"
says Amir Nayyerhabibi, co-founder and CEO of Cortina. "The funding is also a
validation of the substantial progress Cortina has made with the world's
leading communications system vendors." Cortina, he says, will use the
funding to expand the company's family of multiservice, multiprotocol
integrated circuits.
Cortina Systems is currently shipping products to numerous customers in
North America, Europe, China and Japan. Those shipments began in December 2002
when Cortina introduced its highly integrated devices that combine very high-
speed analog and digital capabilities on the same chip. Cortina's ICs are
also designed to support such protocols as RPR and Ethernet MACs,
SONET/SDH/Ethernet framers, and high speed SERDES, running at multiple rates
from OC3 to OC192 and GE to 10GE. This capability significantly simplifies
physical communication at Layers 1 and 2, and dramatically lowers the cost and
electrical power requirement of routers, switches and transport equipment
In addition, Cortina was the first, and so far, only semiconductor company
to successfully integrate the new XFP standard optical interface into its ICs.
Use of XFP promises to significantly reduce power and footprint requirements
across all communications systems.
"Today's announcement represents an exciting next step in Kodiak's ongoing
support for the efforts of Amir and his proven team of entrepreneurs, who we
backed in a past venture," said Dave Furneaux. "Cortina already is emerging as
the clear leader in delivering mixed signal and digital ICs on schedule and
with great sensitivity to customer needs. Cortina has what it takes to build a
world-class, long-term company and we are very pleased to be a part of that."
About Kodiak Venture Partners
Kodiak Venture Partners is a Waltham, Massachusetts-based venture capital
firm focused on seed and early-stage investments in emerging
communications/IT, semiconductor and software companies. With a focus on the
eastern U.S. and Canada, Kodiak Venture Partners builds relationships with
entrepreneurs seeking accelerated market success. Kodiak's investment partners
are successful high-technology business entrepreneurs who take a high-impact,
hands-on approach to forming, operating, building and funding market leaders.
For more information, please visit http://www.kodiakvp.com .
About Hotung Capital Management, Inc.
Hotung Capital Management, Inc., is the venture capital arm of Hotung
International Co. Ltd., an investment group based in Taipei, Taiwan. It
invests globally, with a focus on communications systems and components.
About Cortina Systems, Inc.
Cortina Systems develops highly integrated, complex ICs that address the
challenging requirements of today's networking and communication systems.
With offices in Mountain View, CA, and Ottawa, Canada, Cortina has assembled a
world-class team that has already demonstrated the ability to meet customers'
requirements by bringing complex products to market in a record time. The
company is backed by leading venture capital firms: Morgenthaler Ventures, El
Dorado Ventures, INVESCO Private Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Kodiak Venture
Partners, and Hotung Capital Management, Inc.
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