Press Release
Ubicom Secures $21 Million in Series II Financing Led by August Capital and Levensohn Venture Partners
Funding Demonstrates Strong Industry Support for Ubicom's Leading Wireless Network Processor and Software Platform
Mountain View, Calif. — April 19, 2004 — Ubicom™, Inc., a leading provider of wireless network processor and software platforms, today announced the completion of a Series II financing round totaling $21 million. Led by August Capital and Levensohn Venture Partners, this new round of financing also includes participation from Dado Banatao — co-founder of S3, Chips & Technologies, and Mostron — and Ubicom's existing investors. The funding will be used to expand Ubicom's presence in the wireless networking market, focusing on high-growth areas such as the small office/home office (SOHO)/consumer space and the emerging high-end wireless router space. Ubicom's processor and software platform is currently demonstrating performance that is up to three times that of competitively priced ARM®- and MIPS®-based SOC solutions.
"Ubicom has developed a new processor architecture that speeds development and lowers the cost of embedded communications applications," said Andy Rappaport of August Capital. "By developing an architecture specifically for efficient packet processing and I/O tasks, they have overcome the shortcomings associated with general-purpose processors and operating systems in wireless, VoIP, and other large and fast-growing communications markets."
Demonstrating their continued commitment to Ubicom, existing investors participating in this round of financing include Mayfield and JatoTech. The company's board of directors now includes Doug Spreng, chairman; Pascal Levensohn from Levensohn Venture Partners; Andy Rappaport from August Capital; Janice Roberts from Mayfield; and Walt Thirion from Jatotech Ventures. In addition, Dado Banatao, a highly-respected entrepreneur in the semiconductor industry, will assume an advisory position.
"Ubicom's architectural approach is truly unique and delivers impressive industry-leading price performance," said Dado Banatao. "I expect this architecture will drive the rapid deployment of a broad range of wireless products — including wireless routers, printers, phones, and streaming audio/video equipment — and enable the broad proliferation of new wireless capabilities never before seen in the rapidly expanding SOHO/consumer space."
"Ubicom has already made significant progress to date, delivering several compelling products, and establishing key partner and customer relationships," said Pascal Levensohn, founder and managing director at Levensohn Venture Partners. "We look forward to working in partnership with the company's exceptional management team to position Ubicom for strong revenue growth and market leadership in the future."
"Based on our continued customer success and the rapid acceptance of our newest IP3023™ processor, we believe this new round of funding will enable us to accelerate into new high-growth opportunities in the wireless networking market," said Doug Spreng, president and CEO of Ubicom.
About Ubicom's Wireless Network Processor and Software Platforms
Ubicom's industry-leading price performance is enabled by a patent-pending architecture designed for real-time tasks and low latency. The IP3023 and Ubicom's ipOS™ network operating system can process packets twice as fast as typical solutions, dramatically improving response times for games, voice, and other interactive applications. As a result, the IP3023 can support multiple clients and functions without suffering the performance degradation that occurs with other platforms. The platform also uses patented design techniques to enable the high-performance execution of software I/O — a technique that implements all communications and control functions in software. Software I/O helps eliminate costly dedicated hardware I/O which typically comprises up to 75 percent of the SOC's die area. Additional architectural efficiencies reduce the amount of external memory required by as much as 95 percent, for further cost savings.
About Ubicom, Inc.
Ubicom, Inc. is making ubiquitous communications a reality, through wireless network processor and software platforms that enable all electronic devices to be connected to each other — securely, cost-effectively and transparently. With headquarters in Mountain View, California, Ubicom also has offices in Belgium, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Ubicom, the Ubicom logo, IP3023 and ipOS are trademarks of Ubicom, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
