LONDON — Percello Ltd. (Ra'anana, Israel), a fabless startup developing baseband processors for the 3G/LTE femtocell market, has raised $12 million in a Series B round of funding, including backing from German mobile operator T-Mobile.
The round was co-led by US-based Granite Ventures and Israel-based Vertex Venture Capital. The company also welcomed T-Mobile Venture Fund from Germany as a strategic investor. The capital raised will be used primarily to complete product development and to initiate sales and marketing activities.
The company's $6 million Series A was led by 7-Main Ltd. This capital was used to establish the team and for the foundation of Percello in 2007.
"Percello is a market enabler via the PRC6000, which offers the highest level of integration, the most advanced features and the most efficient power consumption at the best price," said Percello CEO Shlomo Gadot, in a statement.
Percello claimed that its first chip, the PRC6000, is the first SoC dedicated to the 3G UMTS femtocell market. The chip is a highly integrated device supporting all femtocell backhauling functions such as timing, security and others. PRC6000 is compliant to 3GPP Rel 7 baseline and is capable of delivering 21.6-Mbps downlink and 5.76-uplink. What was not made clear was whether the design of the PRC6000 is complete or whether Percello has yet seen the design implemented in silicon. Nor was it disclosed where Percello plans to get the chip made.
"Vertex strongly believes in femtocells and their benefits to mobile operators and consumers," said Manuel Timor, partner at Vertex Venture Capital. "The company's unique technology, large potential market and experienced team made it easy for Vertex to invest in Percello." Timor did not disclose what is unique about Percello's technology.
"The baseband chip that Percello develops is the most critical component related to quality and mass market compatible price points. Percello's team has a strong track record and we highly welcome them strengthening the growing femtocell ecosystem," said Klaus-Jurgen Krath, senior vice president of radio network engineering and quality for T-Mobile International, in the same statement.
Percello was founded in 2007 by an experienced team led by Shlomo Gadot, former co-founder and co-CEO of Modem Art, which was acquired by Agere in May 2005 for $145 million, Rafy Carmon, VP R&D, and Yoav Volloch, as VP Product Management.
Related articles:
Percello femtocell baseband to use Ceva DSP core
Israeli startup targets femtocell baseband
Agere acquires supplier of 3G/UMTS processors
RSS
Digital
10 emerging technologies to watch:
EE Times has compiled a list of emerging technologies that we think will be worth watching out for in 2010. Biofeedback or thought-control of electronics are among the contenders.
10 CEOs out in 2009:
It's been a tough year for the global electronics industry and CEOs. We survey the dismissal of 10 industry CEOs during the first three quarters of 2009 and what's ahead for the rest of the year.
Executive pay:
The economy stinks. Rank-and-file engineers are feeling the pain. What about technology CEOs? We crunched the numbers buried in corporate financial statements to find out. Here's what we found.
10 companies in trouble (revisited):
What follows is an updated version of 10 companies in trouble. Some companies have been removed since the last version, others remain. Still others have been added to the mix.
Early predictions for 2010:
The electronics industry is recovering, but there is still some uncertainty in the market. Some see a boom year in 2010. Some see a double dip. So what's in store for the rest of this year and 2010?
Top 10 IC vendors with cash:
The world's biggest IC companies by revenue rank not only among the best in their respective industry segments but are also more likely to have huge piles of cash that can be used to fund acquisitions, R&D and product development.
Notable women in microelectronics:
There is no better time than a global economic recession to examine the keys to successful corporate governance. So, EE Times has compiled an international list that celebrates women who are business and technology leaders in semis.
EE Times updates Silicon 60:
Seventeen companies have been added to the lastest version of our Silicon 60 list of emerging startups. Forty-three companies survived as emerging companies that are still worth watching.
RSS| 
Digital| 
Mobile
