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Memscap Grabs $2.2M in Venture Funds MEMS IP provider records positive first year grenoble, france -- Closing out a successful first year, Memscap S.A., has received $2.2 million in funding from two investment firms, Innovacom and SPEF Banque Populaire Innovation. This is the first time that the self-funded, privately held company sought funding from the venture capital community. The French supplier of MicroElectroMechancial Systems (MEMS) intellectual property expects positive results for its first year, which ends at the calendar year's end. The company did not disclose figures for the year. Memscap initially sought $1.5 million in venture funds, according to Jean-Michel Karam, president/CEO, however, investors "significantly oversubscribed" in the first round with commitments in the range of $6.5 million. The over-subscription prompted Memscap to raise its cap from $1.5 million to $2.2 million. It also allowed the company to "select those (investment houses) who were best tuned to our vision," said Karam. With this investment, Memscap plans to accelerate its international expansion. The company also intends to increase the infrastructure of its professional services organization, according to Karam. The company will open a U.S.-based subsidiary soon, said Karam. Although it could not be confirmed at press time, EN believes Memscap would likely settle on a site near MCNC, a partner of Memscap, located in North Carolina. As a first step toward expansion, Memscap appointed Filipe Vinci Dos Santos, as the new VP of Memscap business development organization. Reporting to Karam, Dos Santos will influence major technology, business and strategic decisions of the company, particularly, those related to the American market operations. Memscap products include the MEMS Engineering Kit which combines aspects of electronic design automation (EDA) with mechanical, thermal and fluidic computer-aided design. The kit supports EDA tools and a wide range of advanced process technologies from leading MEMS foundries. Memscap also provides model generation tools from low level description to system level models. |