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resistion
That's indeed interesting. I had phrased my question in the wrong way, I was ...
iniewski
Yes, it was like a highly unreliable light tank! but that was pretty much a norm ...
Startup raises $30 million to bring MRAM to market
Peter Clarke
8/1/2012 12:25 PM EDT
From Russia with love
The funding round has been supported by Avalanche's current investors including Vulcan Capital, Sequoia Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Thomvest Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures. The round also included VTB Capital (Moscow, Russia). VTB Capital has taken part in numerous deals instrumental in attracting investments to Russia.
It was not disclosed whether there is a Russian relocation element to the deal although a VTB Capital representative is joining the board of directors of Avalanche.
Avalanche is working with multiple 300-mm fab partners and OEM customers on production of its first generation SPMEM embedded and stand-alone products processed in CMOS at geometries of 65-nm and greater.
"Avalanche customers can choose to embed SPMEM technology into their existing and next generation system-on-chip solutions as well as design in Avalanche's branded stand-alone discreet devices enabling customers to essentially replace several memory types with one common memory interface, technology," said Michael Ofstedahl, vice president for business development for Avalanche, in a statement.
"Avalanche has an extremely promising combination of a cutting-edge proprietary technology for high-volume markets and a seasoned and very ambitious team of industry veterans who were able to build very successful memory companies in the past, taking them from scratch to billion dollars in revenues and IPO," said Aidar Kaliev, global head of venture capital at VTB, in the same statement.
Russian investors have a penchant for MRAM technology. In May 2011, Crocus Technology Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.) announced it would receive an investment of about $300 million in a round led by Rusnano, the Russian state-owned nanotechnology fund, with most of the money earmarked for the creation of a manufacturing joint venture in Russia.
Related links and articles:
www.avalanche-technology.com
News articles:
Russia backs MRAM startup Crocus in $300 million deal
Aeroflex offers 16-Mbit, 64-Mbit rad-hard MRAMs
Russia drives into U.S. fabless funding
The old magnetism's back
The funding round has been supported by Avalanche's current investors including Vulcan Capital, Sequoia Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Thomvest Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures. The round also included VTB Capital (Moscow, Russia). VTB Capital has taken part in numerous deals instrumental in attracting investments to Russia.
It was not disclosed whether there is a Russian relocation element to the deal although a VTB Capital representative is joining the board of directors of Avalanche.
Avalanche is working with multiple 300-mm fab partners and OEM customers on production of its first generation SPMEM embedded and stand-alone products processed in CMOS at geometries of 65-nm and greater.
"Avalanche customers can choose to embed SPMEM technology into their existing and next generation system-on-chip solutions as well as design in Avalanche's branded stand-alone discreet devices enabling customers to essentially replace several memory types with one common memory interface, technology," said Michael Ofstedahl, vice president for business development for Avalanche, in a statement.
"Avalanche has an extremely promising combination of a cutting-edge proprietary technology for high-volume markets and a seasoned and very ambitious team of industry veterans who were able to build very successful memory companies in the past, taking them from scratch to billion dollars in revenues and IPO," said Aidar Kaliev, global head of venture capital at VTB, in the same statement.
Russian investors have a penchant for MRAM technology. In May 2011, Crocus Technology Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.) announced it would receive an investment of about $300 million in a round led by Rusnano, the Russian state-owned nanotechnology fund, with most of the money earmarked for the creation of a manufacturing joint venture in Russia.
Related links and articles:
www.avalanche-technology.com
News articles:
Russia backs MRAM startup Crocus in $300 million deal
Aeroflex offers 16-Mbit, 64-Mbit rad-hard MRAMs
Russia drives into U.S. fabless funding
The old magnetism's back
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goafrit
8/1/2012 1:24 PM EDT
When you see how capital moves and ideas are funded and nurtured, it seems that startups and VCs live a different world. While Washington and Moscow fight, these guys are building products.
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iniewski
8/1/2012 2:35 PM EDT
Interesting..." In May 2011, Crocus Technology Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.) announced it would receive an investment of about $300 million in a round led by Rusnano, the Russian state-owned nanotechnology fund, with most of the money earmarked for the creation of a manufacturing joint venture in Russia"...anyone knows whether this $300M fab has been built? Kris
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xprmntl
8/1/2012 3:05 PM EDT
Google:
http://eng.spb-venchur.ru/news/16039.htm
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iniewski
8/1/2012 3:17 PM EDT
thank you @xprmntl..."former auto plant “Moskvich” in Moscow"...this is very nostalgic for me! my dad owned a "Moskvich", since most people are not familiar with it just a single comment: "Moskvich" was one of the early East European cars in the 50-ties...glad to see that MRAM memories with be manufactured now (so it seems, the link still talks about the future)...Kris
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xprmntl
8/1/2012 3:26 PM EDT
The building was built in 1929 and has only seen auto and military fabrication. It has been shuttered since bankruptcy in 2002 except for a partial occupation to build some Renaults in 2005 before going bankrupt, again. State of the art...
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peter.clarke
8/1/2012 6:12 PM EDT
As I remember they sounded like a tank and could start in sub-zero temperatures like a (Russian) tank. But were very unreliable and uncomfortable.
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iniewski
8/1/2012 6:15 PM EDT
Yes, it was like a highly unreliable light tank! but that was pretty much a norm in Eastern Europe these days...East German Traubants were made out plastic, you could throw an apple at it and the body would bent ;-)
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iniewski
8/1/2012 3:31 PM EDT
State of the art high tech building in the middle of Moscov, times are changing, it will be cool to see it...pictures posted on the web anywhere?
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resistion
8/1/2012 4:40 PM EDT
Interesting that Crocus did not rely on foundries as Avalanche did.
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peter.clarke
8/1/2012 6:11 PM EDT
Well Crocus does rely on foundries...having worked with IBM and SMIC. But Rusnano was interested in manufacturing.
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resistion
8/1/2012 11:56 PM EDT
That's indeed interesting. I had phrased my question in the wrong way, I was intrigued by Crocus going a non-foundry route, similar to Everspin, but still different since it is a JV between Crocus and Rusnano.
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