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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
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Leyden Energy Inc. (Fremont, Calif.), formerly known as Mobius Power Inc., was founded in 2007 to commercialize technology covered by a lithium-ion cell technology patent acquired from chemical giant Dupont. The seed technology served as the foundation for subsequent Leyden Energy research which has led to the company's Li-imide battery platform. www.leydenenergy.com
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mCube Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) was founded in September 2009 and has developed a method for integrating MEMS motion sensors above electronic circuitry in a standard CMOS wafer fab. The mCube eMotion sensor platform combines single-chip motion sensors with tuned software algorithms. www.mcube-inc.com
Memoir Systems Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.) is a 2009 startup offering embedded memory IP aimed at SoCs being designed for the networking and multicore processor markets. The company claims its "algorithmic" systems approach to embedded memory provision provides an order of magnitude increase in embedded memory performance. www.memoir-systems.com
MicroGen Systems Inc. (Ithaca, N.Y.) is developing products based on piezoelectric vibrational energy harvester technology. The MEMS components serve as micro-power sources to extend rechargeable battery lifetime. They also could eliminate the need for batteries in some applications. The company was founded by Robert Andosca in 2007. www.microgensystems.com
MimoOn GmbH (Duisberg, Germany) was founded in 2006 and supplies a software implementation of the 3GPP LTE physical layer and protocol stack for infrastructure devices and terminals. www.mimoon.de
Movea SA (Grenoble, France) provides motion processing chips, software, embedded firmware and IP for consumer electronics. Formed in March 2007 as a spinout from the French research institute CEA-Leti, Movea acquired the Gyration consumer electronics brand in 2008 www.movea.com
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Neul. Ltd. (Cambridge, England), founded in 2010 by several original founders of Cambridge Silicon Radio, is working on radio network standards and terminals to exploit "white-space" spectrum between 400-800 MHz. In many countries this spectrum is used for analog and digital TV broadcasts. Neul is proposing an adaptive protocol that can be used for communications between IP-addressed objects in the Internet of Things. www.neul.com
Nitero Inc. (Austin, Texas) is a fabless chip company with offices in Austin ande Melbourne, Australia, designing a 60-GHz 802.11ad Wi-Fi chip set. The company was spun out of the National ICT Australia in 2011. www.nitero.com
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Pelican Imaging Corp. (Mountain View, Calif.), founded in 2008, is commercializing computational array cameras for the mobile market. Pelican’s array camera, essentially replacing a single image sensor with an array of devices, addresses challenges posed by conventional camera design and small pixels. www.pelicanimaging.com
Peraso Technologies Inc. (Toronto), founded in September 2008, is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in the development of chip sets for the 60-GHz marketplace. The unlicensed 60-GHz band has been available for several years, but only now is it possible to implement chips in low-cost SiGe BiCMOS and CMOS technologies. Peraso is aiming at the moblile segment of the consumer electronics market. It was founded by Ron Glibbery, who serves as president and CEO, and Brad Lynch, vice president of product development. Glibbery and Lynch previously co-founded Cogency Semiconductor in 1997. www.perasotech.com
Pixel Qi Corp. (San Bruno, Calif.) designs liquid crystal displays that can be manufactured on conventional fabrication machinery while reducing the need for a back light. The ability to turn off the backlight and switch to a monochrome reflective mode in ambient light allows for significant power saving. The company was formed in 2008 by Mary Lou Jepson, who previously served as CTO of the One Laptop Per Child project. www.pixelqi.com
poLight AS (Horten, Norway) has developed optical MEMS-actuated autofocus lenses for use in camera phones and other consumer applications. The company, founded in 2006 and formerly known as Ignis Display AS, claims its TLens products are faster and use less energy to achieve focus than traditional voice-coil motor autofocus systems. www.polight.no
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Quantance Inc. (San Mateo, Calif.), founded in December 2005, developed and patented several RF and DC power supply techniques as the basis of an instantaneous envelope-tracking technology known as qBoost. Designed specifically for mobile devices, qBoost provides power supply technology for envelope tracking for 3G and 4G power amplifiers, thereby reducing power consumption. www.quantance.com
Quantenna Communications Inc. (Fremont, Calif.), founded in 2006, develops silicon for wireless networking. The company has developed 802.11n and 802.11ac Wi-Fi chip sets that include 4 by 4 MIMO capability and dynamic digital beam-forming. www.quantenna.com
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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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kjdsfkjdshfkdshfvc
2/12/2013 10:29 AM EST
Agreed
http://bit.ly/dI3hcF
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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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kjdsfkjdshfkdshfvc
2/12/2013 10:29 AM EST
Good info and great article.
http://bit.ly/dI3hcF
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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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