Artimi wins more funding

Hooray! Cambridge-based high speed wireless chip designer Artimi has raised more funding, albeit just $5m. This brings its round B funding to a total of $31.5m, and a total of $50m. Whether this is enough to bring a consumer chip company to market is another question, but the company is full of great chip designers from the former VirataGlobespan, so it needs UK support.
The latest funding comes from a new investor Khosla Ventures, founded by Vinod Khosla, one of the world's most influential venture capitalists.

"Almost anyone who uses digital cameras has probably wished for a faster, easier way to get pictures to a computer or printer, and that need gets greater with newer, more powerful devices coming every day," he said. "Artimi's breakthrough embedded technology offers consumers ultra simple connectivity for digital cameras, phones, media players, and more."

Artimi has demonstrated next-generation Bluetooth over ultra-wideband (UWB) for mobile handsets at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona and a Wireless USB digital camera reference design at the Photo Marketing Association conference in Las Vegas, and claims to have some large consumer companies in the pipline as customers - I cetainly hope so! If these end products can get to market this year there is a chance of the company succeeding as the chips go into serious volumes in 2008, which is abviously the plan (see below). Otherwise, or if there is a hiccup, it will be a major struggle.

"With more than a billion portable consumer electronic devices shipped each year, and consumers' need to transfer media-rich content, the market opportunity for wireless connectivity is very large," said Colin Macnab, CEO of Artimi. "Artimi's support for both Certified Wireless USB and next-generation Bluetooth means manufacturers don't have to choose one technology or another for their products. We've already gained significant market traction with brand-name companies in the areas of storage, digital cameras and mobile handsets, and this follow-on Series B investment from Khosla Ventures further validates our dual-mode technology strategy. This additional funding also allows us to support volume production through 2008 and stay focused on building the business."

Artimi's other investors include Accel Partners, Amadeus Capital Partners, Index Ventures, Oak Investment Partners, and Bank of Scotland Growth Equity.