November 2010 Archives

One of the leading European silicon startups has been snapped up by Broadcom of the US for $75m. Gigle Networks of Barcelona, Spain, has been developing a system on chip for home networking over power lines.

Gigle is one of the most ambitious silicon startups with offices in Edinburgh and Redwood City, California. The deal follows the acquisitions of Israeli femtocell chip startup Percello last month and NFC chip designer Innovision in Cirencester earlier in the year, as well as US LTE and WiMax chip maker Beceem last month.

The Gigle acquisition will accelerate Broadcom's time to market for G.hn, a new draft specification for high speed networking over existing-wire home networking developed by the ITU.

The UK chip market is 'constipated' and desperately needs some successful stock market flotations, say leading figures.

"The investment cycle is constipated at the moment," said Jamie Urquhart, speaking at the Silicon2010 seminar in Bath today on funding of startups.

"There's Icera, Picochip and Plastic Logic all with over $100m of investment and we need an exit so that the money will come back into the industry," he said.

The re-incarnation of IPWireless is gaining traction with it's IMB multimedia broadcast technology with a key technology supplier, ST-Ericsson.

The collaboration brings together IPWireless' IMB technology - now standardised by the GSM Association for the next generation of 3G and LTE systems - with ST-Ericsson's chipsets to allow handset vendors to integrate IMB into future mobile devices and for existing WCDMA USB dongle manufacturers to enhance their existing devices to allow them to quickly participate in the emerging global IMB market.

Hampshire-based medical technology company Sirigen has completed two financing rounds totalling £3.83 million to commercialise its High Sensitivity Fluorescence (HSF) technology, designed to significantly boost the performance of diagnostic tools.

The Ringwood-based company is using the HSF technology to improve analysis and management of diseases including HIV and leukaemia and is expected to improve clinical outcomes for many patients as a result.

A North Wales startup has raised £1m to accelerate the development of its energy-saving technology.

SenseLogix in Conwy develops sensors, controllers and software that can be easily retro-fitted to optimise energy use around a building, and last month won an award for the Best Innovation in Green Products or Services at the prestigious Innovation and Sustainability Awards.

The funding was led by venture capital firm Beringea and regional equity company, North Star Equity Investment Partners. The round also includes a Single Investment Fund (SIF) grant from the Welsh Assembly Government, which is directly linked to the creation of new jobs. SenseLogix plans to create more than 12 new jobs over the next 12 months and is currently looking for a senior electronics engineer and a software engineer.