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jackOfManyTrades
To me (as an employee of a Japanese company of 15 years) the elephant in the ...
peter.clarke
EE Times' Silicon 60: Hot startups to watch
Peter Clarke
10/4/2012 2:00 PM EDT
EE Times latest Silicon 60, our list of emerging startups, adds 17 innovators in version 14.0. (Our version 13.0 list, from April, is here. The newcomers include EDA, memory technology and processor companies along with sensors and haptics, wireless communications, power semiconductors, optoelectronics, audio and security.
Silicon 60 companies are selected based on a mix of criteria, including: technology, intended market, maturity, financial position, investment profile and executive leadership. Most importantly, they're emerging companies we believe are important to follow. The version 14.0 newcomers are highlighted in red.
A
ActLight SA (Lausanne, Switzerland), founded in 2010, by Serguei Okhonin, is a fabless semiconductor company developing designs and intellectual property for the combination of light and logic on silicon chips, including the use of CMOS for optical conversion for use in energy harvesting. www.act-light.com
Adapteva Inc. (Lexington, Mass.), founded in 2008, Adapteva is a lean startup that has developed the Epiphany architecture of multicore processors. Adapteva, led by founder Anders Olofsson, is targeting defense and mobile consumer applications. The company claims to have reached break-even point with less than $2 million of investment. www.adapteva.com
Adesto Technologies Corp. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) was founded by CEO Narbeh Derhacobian in 2006. The company is developing a nonvolatile memory based on programmable metallization cell technology licensed from Axon Technologies Corp., a spinoff of Arizona State University. The company is backed by Arch Venture Partners and Applied Ventures amongst other venture capital companies. www.adestotech.com
Amantys Ltd. (Cambridge, England) was established by former ARM executives in 2010 as a power electronics company. The company aims to use digital control to transform power electronics in medium- and high-voltage applications. The company is backed by Moonray Investors and ARM Holdings plc. www.amantys.com
Ambiq Micro Inc. (Westlake Hills, Texas) founded in 2010, is a fabless chip company developing low power wireless processors based on ARM architecture and mixed-signal systems. Investors include Cisco Systems and ARM Holdings. www.ambiqmicro.com
Andes Technology Corp. (Hsinchu, Taiwan), founded in 2005, is a developer and licensor of 32-bit processor technology and associated SoC platforms intended for a variety of embedded applications. The company’s U.S.-trained founders are aiming Andes cores at the borders of markets owned by established licensors such ARM, MIPS and Tensilica. www.andestech.com
Ausdia Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) is a timing verification EDA company formed in 2006 which commenced product development in 2008. The company's TimeVision product is a timing constraints development tool intended to help with static timing analysis and sign-off for complex system-on-chip designs www.ausdia.com
Avalanche Technology Inc. (Fremont Calif.) is a attempting to bring to market a form of magnetic random access memory for memory and storage applications. Founded in 2006, the company received $30 million in venture capital funding in mid-2012. www.avalanche-technology.com
B
Brite Semiconductor (Shanghai) Corp. (Shanghai, China) was founded in 2008 in Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park. It is an SoC and ASIC design company that pulls together intellectual property, foundry, test and packaging technologies to create custom silicon for its customers. Brite is backed by local foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. and Open-Silicon Inc. (Milpitas, Calif.). www.britesemi.com
C
Calxeda Inc. (Austin, Texas) was founded in 2008 under the name Smooth-Stone and is developing server-on-a-chip processors based on multiple ARM processor cores. The company has received $48 million in investments from venture capital funds and strategic investors including ARM, ATIC and Texas Instruments. www.calxeda.com
Cognivue Corp. (Gatineau, Quebec) was spun off in 2009 from Korea's MtekVision to focus on so-called cognitive processing, that is, parallel processing engines optimized for tasks like image recognition and identification. CogniVue provides SoCs, software and IP to capture, analyze, and render video and images for smart cameras. www.cognivue.com
Cosmic Circuits Inc. (Bangalore, India), founded in 2005, is a licensor of analog and mixed-signal intellectual property circuits cores. The company provides a broad spectrum of IP ranging from power management, audio and voice to data converters, clocking circuits and analog front-end subsystems. www.cosmiccircuits.com
Cyclos Semiconductor Inc. (Berkeley, Calif.) was founded in 2006 as a spin-out from the University of Michigan. Based in Berkeley and Ann Arbor, Cyclos delivers resonant clock mesh semiconductor IP, design automation tools, and design consulting services for resonant clock mesh designs that can reduce the power consumption of clock circuits on ICs. www.cyclos-semi.com
Next: E to K
Silicon 60 companies are selected based on a mix of criteria, including: technology, intended market, maturity, financial position, investment profile and executive leadership. Most importantly, they're emerging companies we believe are important to follow. The version 14.0 newcomers are highlighted in red.
A
ActLight SA (Lausanne, Switzerland), founded in 2010, by Serguei Okhonin, is a fabless semiconductor company developing designs and intellectual property for the combination of light and logic on silicon chips, including the use of CMOS for optical conversion for use in energy harvesting. www.act-light.com
Adapteva Inc. (Lexington, Mass.), founded in 2008, Adapteva is a lean startup that has developed the Epiphany architecture of multicore processors. Adapteva, led by founder Anders Olofsson, is targeting defense and mobile consumer applications. The company claims to have reached break-even point with less than $2 million of investment. www.adapteva.com
Adesto Technologies Corp. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) was founded by CEO Narbeh Derhacobian in 2006. The company is developing a nonvolatile memory based on programmable metallization cell technology licensed from Axon Technologies Corp., a spinoff of Arizona State University. The company is backed by Arch Venture Partners and Applied Ventures amongst other venture capital companies. www.adestotech.com
Amantys Ltd. (Cambridge, England) was established by former ARM executives in 2010 as a power electronics company. The company aims to use digital control to transform power electronics in medium- and high-voltage applications. The company is backed by Moonray Investors and ARM Holdings plc. www.amantys.com
Ambiq Micro Inc. (Westlake Hills, Texas) founded in 2010, is a fabless chip company developing low power wireless processors based on ARM architecture and mixed-signal systems. Investors include Cisco Systems and ARM Holdings. www.ambiqmicro.com
Andes Technology Corp. (Hsinchu, Taiwan), founded in 2005, is a developer and licensor of 32-bit processor technology and associated SoC platforms intended for a variety of embedded applications. The company’s U.S.-trained founders are aiming Andes cores at the borders of markets owned by established licensors such ARM, MIPS and Tensilica. www.andestech.com
Ausdia Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) is a timing verification EDA company formed in 2006 which commenced product development in 2008. The company's TimeVision product is a timing constraints development tool intended to help with static timing analysis and sign-off for complex system-on-chip designs www.ausdia.com
Avalanche Technology Inc. (Fremont Calif.) is a attempting to bring to market a form of magnetic random access memory for memory and storage applications. Founded in 2006, the company received $30 million in venture capital funding in mid-2012. www.avalanche-technology.com
B
Brite Semiconductor (Shanghai) Corp. (Shanghai, China) was founded in 2008 in Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park. It is an SoC and ASIC design company that pulls together intellectual property, foundry, test and packaging technologies to create custom silicon for its customers. Brite is backed by local foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. and Open-Silicon Inc. (Milpitas, Calif.). www.britesemi.com
C
Calxeda Inc. (Austin, Texas) was founded in 2008 under the name Smooth-Stone and is developing server-on-a-chip processors based on multiple ARM processor cores. The company has received $48 million in investments from venture capital funds and strategic investors including ARM, ATIC and Texas Instruments. www.calxeda.com
Cognivue Corp. (Gatineau, Quebec) was spun off in 2009 from Korea's MtekVision to focus on so-called cognitive processing, that is, parallel processing engines optimized for tasks like image recognition and identification. CogniVue provides SoCs, software and IP to capture, analyze, and render video and images for smart cameras. www.cognivue.com
Cosmic Circuits Inc. (Bangalore, India), founded in 2005, is a licensor of analog and mixed-signal intellectual property circuits cores. The company provides a broad spectrum of IP ranging from power management, audio and voice to data converters, clocking circuits and analog front-end subsystems. www.cosmiccircuits.com
Cyclos Semiconductor Inc. (Berkeley, Calif.) was founded in 2006 as a spin-out from the University of Michigan. Based in Berkeley and Ann Arbor, Cyclos delivers resonant clock mesh semiconductor IP, design automation tools, and design consulting services for resonant clock mesh designs that can reduce the power consumption of clock circuits on ICs. www.cyclos-semi.com
Next: E to K
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sranje
10/4/2012 9:34 PM EDT
Very interesting - thank you Peter.
It seems that Power GaN (3 companies) and 60GHz wireless (3-4 companies) spaces dominate
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Azuretex
10/5/2012 1:00 PM EDT
Indeed interesting, and I have met a few.
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dasgeirsson
10/5/2012 1:37 PM EDT
It would be interesting to list out the dropped companies, and what happened with each of them!
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GREAT-Terry
10/5/2012 11:35 PM EDT
I also have interest to know which "dropped" company has now been acquired or moved to IPO. This shows how successful those startups are.
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peter.clarke
10/8/2012 10:32 AM EDT
While it is possible to go back to v13.0 and play spot the difference.
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fundamentals
10/8/2012 11:58 AM EDT
More than half the companies (32 out of 60) were founded in 2007 or earlier. There was a time when a start-up company was considered a dead-end after three or four years maximum. Perhaps something has changed in the past decade. Perhaps the VCs are more patient nowadays, or your list is highly skewed and it is not tracking the younger startups up close.
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peter.clarke
10/8/2012 1:08 PM EDT
@fundamentals
Things have changed in the last decade. It takes longer to get more complex technologies to market successfully.
The days of back-of-the-envelope business plan, $20 million invested, IPO and 10X ROI are said to be long gone.
VCs are not more patient but sometimes they are prepared to keep punting money if they think their proteges have a chance.
For the first few years of many startups' existence they say very little or nothing. Some don't have websites to avoid the risk of revealing anything. This, by definition, makes them companies that are difficult to watch.
But we do keep track of younger companies.
The other thing that is changing and has been remarked on many times is that VC money for semiconductor companies is increasingly scarse.
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rick.merritt
2/7/2013 12:07 PM EST
I have heard jokes in Silicon Valley for some time now about startups that are on funding rounds X, Y and Z ;-)
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docdivakar
10/18/2012 2:32 PM EDT
23 out of 60 are based in California! Nearly 40% of the startups. I wonder what the number was for 2011?
MP Divakar
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Bob @ JVD Inc.
10/23/2012 4:22 PM EDT
So when is a startup no longer a startup? Some of these companies got their start 5-6 years ago. Do you get to stay on the list until you get acquired or your investors finally give up?
Maybe you should consider doing an expose on mid stage companies.... separate from start-ups... Startups should have an expiration date... maybe 3 yrs from founding...
Bob @ JVD
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peter.clarke
2/8/2013 8:35 AM EST
Bob,
Three years is too short. Some companies don't have anything to say publicly after three years.
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Mayank.Agarwal
10/31/2012 12:20 AM EDT
Kudos to Indians working at Silicon valley.Almost in about half of the companies there is an Indian as founder or co founder.It would have been great had more companies from Bangalore would be there in this list but 2 are still there.
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Comfortable
2/6/2013 12:14 PM EST
You wrote, "To make way for newcomers, some companies have dropped off the list either because they have been acquired, moved on to an initial public offering of shares or have simply matured."
My question is, "Are there no dropouts due to failure?" That's astounding that EETimes is able to always pick 60 companies that never fail. VCs on the other hand fully expect over half their investments to fail. And most entrepreneurs will tell you that they learned more from failing than succeeding. At least in America, failure is not a dirty word. We should here about those stories as well if for no other reason than to know what didn't fly.
Also, I note that Quantance is on the list but not Nujira. Nujira is making substantially more progress in the exact same space with a substantially larger patent portfolio.
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peter.clarke
2/7/2013 10:06 AM EST
Nujira was a member of the Silicon 60 for a number of iterations.
As far as I remember the company was founded in 2002 and at 10 or 11 years old they are still private, but it is hard to class them as a startup.
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john.moor
2/8/2013 5:28 AM EST
Hi Peter: when is a start up no longer a start up? That's a good question as there are no hard or fast rules. As part of the semiconductor start-up alumni I tend to think of accession from the start up ranks is more about financial maturity than time measures... there's an argument to say that all the while a company is being funded (i.e. on the way to being profitable) then it could be classed as a start-up. Let's be realistic here - semiconductor start-ups are an endangered species for a number of reasons - not least because the old fabless model takes (on average) 10 years to get firmly off the ground... we've seen the evolution of new models in the past 6 or 7 years which seek to reduce investment and time scales and ultimately the risk to investment as a response. On the question of Nujira - I still class them as a start up. They've had an interesting journey which flies in the face of the trend. Whilst many investors are encouraging start ups away from the fabless model, in Nujira's case they were actively encouraged to go fabless! Hence they may be xx years old but their foray into the fabless start up land has been much more recent... so I class them firmly as a start up (oh and they've received money fairly recently and investing that in development).
Thanks for maintaining this list over the years - always of great interest.
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peter.clarke
2/8/2013 8:22 AM EST
Hi John
Interesting points.
However, I don't think we should just use startup as an alternative to privately-held or as a euphemism for "not-yet-commercially-successful"
Of course development timescales may differ by industry segment.
Certainly startups are often stealthy for a couple of years before they are even to start their tilt at the market.
There are some circumstances where engineers form a company....go away and do something else.....and only later start to develop their business. So you end up with X years of existence but only Y years of endeavor.
There are no hard and fast rules but i think it is hard to class a ten-year old company as a startup.
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Traces
2/6/2013 1:31 PM EST
Bob @ JVD:
A start-up is no longer a start-up when it reaches an exit: IPO, acquisition, or shut-down.
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Traces
2/6/2013 1:34 PM EST
@comfortable:
VCs claim to do greater than break-even on 30% of companies funded, but everyone expects this is closer to 10% in reality.
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smartbost
2/7/2013 9:43 AM EST
I don't know what criteria was used to determine these, but certainly there are a few that in my opinion are missing: Finsix (Boston, MA), and Arctic Sand being two of them
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yalanand
2/11/2013 3:28 AM EST
@smartbost, thanks for the info. If I am not wrong Arctic sand is spin-off of MIT ?
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peter.clarke
2/7/2013 10:07 AM EST
@Smartbost
Thanks for the tips
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yalanand
2/11/2013 3:27 AM EST
@Peter thanks for the compiled list. I am curious to know what is the criteria for start-up ? Do you consider a company which is started 8 years back as start-up ?
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toto555
2/12/2013 11:39 AM EST
Peter, what about Riviera Waves?
start-up developing WiFi 802.11 a, b, g and selling it as IP. OK, it's a spin-off (Indian design service) but they run in 100% start-up mode... and it look like they could be successful.
They are based in France, is it an issue? (joke)
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peter.clarke
2/13/2013 5:55 AM EST
@toto555
Thanks for the tip.
Being based in France is not an issue.
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jackOfManyTrades
5/2/2013 3:14 AM EDT
To me (as an employee of a Japanese company of 15 years) the elephant in the room is that there are no Japanese companies on the list; nor can I remember there ever being one; nor could I name a single Japanese startup, despite have visited about a dozen times.
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