April 29, 2003 -- San Jose, CA -- Forte Design Systems, Inc., a leading
provider of electronic design automation (EDA) software for semiconductors
and electronic systems, today announced it has raised $9 million in Series B
financing. The company will use the new financing to introduce its
innovative family of high level synthesis tools that automate the design of
systems, dramatically shortening design, exploration, implementation, and
verification cycles.
This investment round was led by 3i US, and also included prior investors
Infinity Capital and US Venture Partners, as well as a number of previous
angel investors. David Silverman, partner of 3i US will join Forte's Board
of Directors.
"Our company's mission is to accelerate and improve electronic system
design by automating more of the high-level design process, resulting in
increased productivity and higher-performance designs," said Jacob Jacobsson,
Forte's president and CEO. "Our initial focus is on behavioral synthesis,
where we will offer customers significant advantages in time-to RTL and
overall design productivity."
"Forte continues to lead in the development of behavioral synthesis tools
to reign in escalating system design costs, project delays and risks that
plague today's development," said David Silverman, partner at 3i US. "3i
believes Forte's solution represents a next strategic growth area for EDA."
In conjunction with the financing, the company has created the Chronology
Division of Forte Design Systems. The Chronology Division's mission is to
ensure continued development, marketing, and support for Forte's original
product lines including the industry leading TimingDesigner product. As an
external focal point for this division, the company has set up a dedicated
web site for new and existing customers at
www.TimingDesigner.com.
Forte Design Systems is a leading provider of software products that
enable design at a higher-level of abstraction. Forte's innovative
behavioral synthesis technology allows design teams creating complex
electronic systems from algorithmic designs using ASICs, FPGAs, and SoCs to
significantly reduce their overall design and verification time. Forte is
headquartered at 100 Century Center Court, San Jose, CA 95112. For more
information, visit us at
www.ForteDS.com or see us at the 40th Design
Automation Conference in Anaheim June 2-5 in booth #1977.
3i is a leading international venture capital company with U.S. offices
in Menlo Park, CA and Waltham, MA. Operating since 1945, 3i has invested
worldwide over $23 billion, including co-investment funds, with a total
staff of 800 employees operating out of over 30 offices in 16 countries. 3i
leverages this worldwide presence to add value to its portfolio companies
and investment partners. In the United States, 3i concentrates on early and
late stage technology investments in companies with the potential to be
leaders in their markets. Outside the USA, 3i invests broadly in private
equity and venture capital.
Since opening its US businesses in 1999, 3i has become one of the most
active early and late stage VCs in the US. Recent investments in early stage
companies include SiGe Semiconductors, Cometa Networks, Bitfone, Knowmadic,
Sonim and OmniGuide. Recent late stage investments include Placeware,
AppShop, Top Layer and SCP. Visit 3i and its portfolio at
www.3i.com.
Infinity Capital (www.infinityllc.com) is an early stage venture capital
firm focused on building companies in the software, communications,
semiconductors, and services sectors. With $400 million under management and
investments in over sixty companies, the Infinity Capital investment
managers have created value in leading-edge technology companies such as
Ambit (acquired by Cadence), E.piphany, LightLogic (acquired by Intel), and
Amber Networks (acquired by Nokia).
U.S. Venture Partners (www.USVP.com) is a leading Silicon Valley-based
venture capital firm dedicated to helping entrepreneurs build companies that
are leaders in their industry. USVP focuses on early stage opportunities in
sectors where the Partners have the domain expertise, operating experience
and network of relationships to provide meaningful contribution to the
success of the enterprise. These sectors include digital communications and
networking systems, internet and eCommmerce infrastructure, semiconductors
and optical components, enterprise and technical software, and medical
devices and biopharmaceuticals.
Since its inception in 1981, USVP has raised more than $2.5 billion in
eight funds. USVP partners have been the lead investors in such notable
industry leaders as Sun Microsystems, where USVP was the founding seed
investor, Check Point Software Technologies, Artisan Components, AMCC,
CADMOS (acquired by Cadence), EPIC Design (acquired by Synopsys), PDF
Solutions (PDFS), and Stratacom/Cisco, in the information technology
sectors, and Amgen, where USVP founding partner Bill Bowes was the founding
seed investor.
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