Wireless HDTV company raises $14 million

STROUD, England — Fabless startup Amimon Inc., which is developing wireless modem technology, has raised $14 million in a second round of private venture funding.

The company raised $7 million in January 2005 so the latest round brings the total investment in the company to more than $21 million.

Amimon (Herzlia, Israel) is developing a wireless video modem chipset for the transmission of high-definition video streams, which it plans to bring to market in the first quarter of 2007 and the company is lead by Yoav Nissan-Cohen, the former president and chief executive officer of Israel foundry Tower Semiconductor Ltd.

Amimon’s wireless high definition interface (WHDI) technology enables wireless transmission of uncompressed high-definition video streams in the 5-GHz unlicensed band. Equivalent video data rates of up to 3-Gbits per second (including 1080 progressive scan) are achieved using 40-MHz of bandwidth in compliance with FCC regulations. Video data-rates of up to 1.5-Gbits per second (including 1080 lines interlaced and 720 lines progressive) can be delivered using 20-MHz of bandwidth, Amimon said. WHDI(TM) has been demonstrated at ranges of up to 100 feet through walls, and has a latency of less than one millisecond, the company added.

The most recent round of funding was led by Stata Venture Partners of Boston. Other participants in this round include Argonaut Private Equity and previous investors Cedar Fund, Walden Israel and Evergreen Partners.

“We decided to invest in Amimon due to the enormous market potential for its innovative technologies, its talented management team, its superior technology, and the significant traction it has made with major consumer electronics vendors,” said Lee Barbieri, managing partner of Stata Ventures, in a statement issued by Amimon.

"This strategic investment will fuel our progress toward full production by early next year," said Nissan-Cohen, chairman and chief executive officer of Amimon, in the same statement.

Amimon recently demonstrated its wireless high definition interface (WHDI) at the Infocomm 2006, trade show in Orlando Florida working with Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd.