News
March 26 , 2007
Discera Raises $17.5 Million in Funding
Jim Jones Joins Discera's Board of Directors as Company Aims to Capture $3.5B Market
SAN JOSE, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- March 26, 2007 -- Discera, Inc., the leader in MEMS-based oscillators, announced today the completion of a $17.5 million Series C round of funding led by Scale Venture Partners. Discera, which recently began shipping its first products for direct replacement of quartz crystal oscillators for timing components in electronics devices, will use the funding to support increased production, distribution and marketing. Scale Venture Partners joins previous investors 3i, Partech International and Ardesta LLC. New investor Horizon Ventures also participated in the round.
The company also announced that Jim Jones, Managing Director with ScaleVP, has joined Discera's board of directors. Jones focuses on emerging semiconductor and MEMS component companies and enterprise systems.
Investors are excited about Discera because quartz crystal is considered to be one of the final hurdles of Moore's law of scalability. In use for over 50 years for timing applications, quartz oscillators have reached their limit in scalability, cost and manufacturing technology and the electronics industry has long awaited a reliable, scalable, cost-effective alternative. The traditional crystal timing market is estimated to be well over a $3.5 billion market.
"ScaleVP has invested in multiple MEMS companies during the last few years due to the market acceptance of this breakthrough technology," said Jim Jones. "Discera is at an exciting point, as it has now proven that silicon can replace quartz in the timing market. Given the size of the market, Discera's leadership in commercializing silicon resonators, the partners that Discera has signed on, and the proven track record of the management team, the company has the ability to become truly disruptive in the semiconductor market."
Discera recently began shipping its MOS1 oscillator successfully after passing stringent reliability tests, with volume production starting in 2Q07. Discera's technology consists of a silicon MEMS resonator and an ASIC embedded within a conventional QFN plastic package or ceramic package. Discera is offering the product directly through a worldwide set of channel partners and through industry leaders such as Vectron International.
"This round is a validation of Discera, our position in the market and the maturity of our products," said Tom Willey, President and CEO, Discera. "With this funding and the product and channel ready, Discera can rapidly capture market share and build a fast-growing business in the timing market."
Discera has been successfully sampling its product since last year. This past November, Discera demonstrated its technology as a plug-and-play direct replacement of quartz crystal in a camcorder device -- the first MEMS demonstration in a consumer device. Key target applications for MEMS-based timing devices are PCs, DVD players, gaming consoles, set top boxes, camcorders, PDAs and cameras as well a variety of industrial products. For more information please contact Discera or visit www.discera.com.
About Discera
Discera is a fabless analog semiconductor company that offers tiny, high performance silicon resonators for the frequency and timing control markets. These resonators act as the heartbeat or pulse for a variety of devices from consumer products such as cameras and MP3 players to specialized equipment for the military. The company's PureSilicon resonator technology is a fundamental building block that offers, according to Semico Research, "a better mousetrap" for creating fully integrated, low cost, small form factor wireline and wireless products, such as oscillators, filters, and RF components. Unlike crystal based oscillators, Discera's PureSilicon based CMOS oscillators can be integrated into other CMOS-based circuits. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in San Jose, California, Discera is a privately held company with investments from Ardesta, Partech, 3i, and Qualcomm Ventures. More information is available at www.discera.com.
About Scale Venture Partners
Scale Venture Partners employs a thesis-based strategy to identify innovative development-stage technology and healthcare investments. The ScaleVP team helps technology and healthcare companies accelerate their growth and become more valuable to entrepreneurs, investors and consumers. Based in Foster City, California, the ScaleVP team collectively offers decades of technology and venture industry experience to development-stage companies in hardware, software, healthcare and medical devices. Representative portfolio companies include Alimera, Frontbridge, Glu Mobile, Good Technology, Monolithic Power Systems, Omniture, Orexigen, Placeware, ScanSafe, Seattle Genetics, Somaxon, Wayport and Xceive. For more information, please visit www.scalevp.com.
About Horizon Ventures
Horizon Ventures is a Los Altos, CA-based venture capital partnership with $165M under management. They invest in data and telecom systems, wireless networks, enterprise and technical application software, Internet tools and infrastructure, and semiconductors. Their current portfolio includes iWatt, Inc., NuCore Technology, Advanced Microstructures, and Chelsio Communications. For more information, visit www.horizonvc.com.
Discera Signs Strategic Partnership With ABRACON to Broaden Channel for MEMS Oscillators
Leading Frequency Control Manufacturer Provides Discera With Access to Leading North American Customers and Distributors
SAN JOSE, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- March 26, 2007 -- Discera, Inc., a World Leader in CMOS MEMS resonator technology and provider of next-generation timing solutions, announced today it has expanded its distribution channel with the addition of a leading frequency control manufacturer, ABRACON. With the addition of ABRACON, as well as already announced partners, Discera has further strengthened its go-to-market channel to deliver CMOS MEMS-based resonators to customers in all the key segments of the market. All of these partnerships, along with their latest round of funding (see today's separate release "Discera Raises $17.5 Million in Funding"), position Discera as the go-to leader for companies ready to make the move from quartz to MEMS-based oscillators.
The $1 billion oscillator market consists of four segments: multi-frequency, high performance, mid-range, and other, such as military, industrial and automotive. With high performance partner Vectron, and now industrial and commercial partner ABRACON, Discera has a strong presence in three key segments. Discera has already established a worldwide channel with mid-range XO partners in Europe and Asia (European distributor Azzurri Technology Ltd., Korean distributor MJL Technology Inc., Asian distributor Excelpoint, and Japanese distributors TecStar and M-RF Company, LTD). ABRACON'S broad coverage in North America gives Discera an instantaneous footprint through ABRACON'S established channels.
"Given the relationships that we have forged within the distributor community, as well as the synergies with our OEM partners, we are poised for tremendous growth," said Venkat Bahl, vice president of marketing, Discera, Inc. "With our relationship with ABRACON, we expand Discera's reach into new channels such as DigiKey, and to customers where ABRACON already has strong relationships."
ABRACON has been in business fifteen years and is one of the industry's leading frequency control suppliers. ABRACON's well established sales channels include some of the top distributors in North America, including Digikey Corporation, Electrosonic, Future Electronics, Mouser Electronics, Richardson Electronics, Allied Electronics, and Newark Electronics.
"We are very excited about partnering with Discera," said Christopher Polley, President of ABRACON. "ABRACON's business model provides Discera with the advantage of an existing organizational structure that can provide their customers with immediate product availability, technical applications support, and access to ABRACON's leading distributor network who can provide value added supply chain services."
The electronics industry has been waiting for a reliable, scalable, cost-effective alternative to quartz oscillators; Discera's MOS1 oscillator has successfully been subjected to stringent reliability tests, making it ready for volume production in 2Q07. The MOS1 oscillator family, announced by Discera, generates frequencies between 1 to 125 MHz at 2ppm frequency increments for a high degree of flexibility in meeting customer needs. The product offers excellent temperature stability and very low power consumption and is packaged in a tiny industry standard IC package, providing a significant cost advantage over hermetically sealed packages used by quartz based oscillators.
Discera advanced RF, multi-frequency components are available Worldwide from leading distributors. Qualified distributors and resellers should contact sales@discera.com to review opportunities in their respective markets.
About ABRACON
ABRACON Corporation, founded in 1992, is a privately held California Corporation and is a worldwide leading supplier of electronic components. ABRACON offers a wide selection of oscillators, quartz crystals, ceramic resonators, filters, SAW devices, inductors, and transformers. The company is ISO9001:2000 certified with design engineering and sales offices in California, China, Taiwan, India, Singapore, and Germany. ABRACON products are marketed worldwide through independent manufacturer's sales representatives and authorized distributors. More information about ABRACON is available on the web at http://www.abracon.com.
About Discera
Discera is a fabless analog semiconductor company that offers tiny, high performance silicon resonators for the frequency and timing control markets. These resonators act as the heartbeat or pulse for a variety of devices from consumer products such as cameras and MP3 players to specialized equipment for the military. The company's PureSilicon resonator technology is a fundamental building block that offers, according to Semico Research, "a better mousetrap" for creating fully integrated, low cost, small form factor wireline and wireless products, such as oscillators, filters, and RF components. Unlike crystal based oscillators, Discera's PureSilicon based CMOS oscillators can be integrated into other CMOS-based circuits. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in San Jose, California, Discera is a privately held company with investments from Ardesta, Partech, 3i, Qualcomm Ventures, Horizon Ventures, and Scale Ventures. More information is available at www.discera.com.
Lindsay Soulard
Lois Paul & Partners | http://www.loispaul.com
781.782.5794
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