GENEVA, Switzerland, Feb. 18, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Kimotion Technologies Inc. announces a Series A financing totaling EUR 3 million. The investment was led by pan-European venture capital firm Index Ventures with Innovacom participating in the round. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the Belgian university from which the technology was spun-off, retains a minority equity position in the company. Neil Rimer, General Partner at Index Ventures and Denis Barrier, General Partner at Innovacom have joined the board of directors.
Kimotion Technologies develops front-to-back EDA software for analog and mixed signal ICs, including modeling, sizing and layout tools, addressing high-complexity analog functional blocks. The firm's software helps circuit designers quickly size and lay out complex designs containing thousands of transistors without compromising design performance.
"People are looking for ways to increase productivity in design, particularly in analog design and mixed signal chips. Kimotion provides those productivity gains in multiples of ten," commented Oscar Buset, CEO of Kimotion Technologies.
Kimotion Technologies is a technology spin-off of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The founders are a team of four researchers from the Microelectronics and Sensors (MICAS) laboratory of K.U.Leuven and two serial entrepreneurs, Oscar Buset and Bendt Sorensen.
Although the firm was founded in May of 2003 its technology is based on over 15 years of research and development at the MICAS laboratory of K.U.Leuven, a world leading laboratory in the study and development of integrated circuits and sensors with analog content. The founders of Kimotion have been working on analog and mixed signal synthesis for more than 6 years under the direction of Professor Georges Gielen, one of the most well known experts in the field. MICAS is headed by world-renowned industry expert, Professor Willy Sansen. Both Professors have actively supported the founding of Kimotion and will remain committed to the company's development.
"In our lab, software and circuit designers work closely together. Kimotion is therefore unique in that design knowledge is embedded in the software tools. The tools themselves are of a new generation not yet seen on the market," remarked Professor Sansen. Professor Gielen added, "Kimotion's technology is based on 60 man years of research and two generations of PhD students. It is great to see this experience and knowledge being commercialized, particularly by such a strong team."
Oscar Buset is the CEO of Kimotion Technologies. Prior to co-founding Kimotion, Oscar co-founded Snaketech in 1996, which was acquired by Simplex Solutions (now part of Cadence) in 2000. Oscar has a strong technology background and management experience in this industry. He obtained his Ph.D. from EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) and holds both a M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering and a B.Math degree in computer science from the University of Waterloo, Canada.
Europe, and K.U.Leuven in particular, is known for expertise in microelectronics and analog chip design. "Analog design is extremely difficult to learn but is critical as 70% of all chips contain analog design as supplements to digital chips. Also, all interfaces are analog signals," said Professor Sansen. "The number of analog designers is not increasing, making expertise in the field even more widely sought."
EDA is a $3B industry known for ongoing innovation. The field of analog and mixed signal automation is one of the most attractive of the EDA industry. Kimotion Technologies will develop and sell software for designers of analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits, a market which currently stands at $60M and is estimated to grow eight to tenfold in the next 3 to 5 years.
"We find EDA to be a highly interesting space and analog design is a critical discipline. We knew that K.U.Leuven was developing leading technology in the analog software design field and were delighted to be able to combine the team of leading researchers with experienced entrepreneurs as well as secure IP from the university," said Neil Rimer, General Partner at Index Ventures and Kimotion board member.
The company was incorporated in Delaware with a main subsidiary in Leuven, Belgium where the company will develop its intellectual property and its products. A technology transfer agreement has been negotiated with K.U.Leuven in exchange for equity in the company. There are also offices near Geneva, Switzerland. Kimotion's dual locations in Belgium and Switzerland give them access to both leading R&D as well as a central location for reaching the European customer base.
Proceeds from the Series A financing will be used for general corporate purposes, including product development as well as sales and marketing.
About Kimotion Technologies
Kimotion provides front-to-back analog design software, including modeling, sizing and layout tools, addressing high-complexity analog functional blocks. Our software helps circuit designers quickly size and lay out complex designs containing thousands of transistors, without compromising design performance. Kimotion is a technology spin-off of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, with venture capital funding from Index Ventures and Innovacom. The company has offices near Geneva, Switzerland and Leuven, Belgium. http://www.kimotion.com
About Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U.Leuven)
Over a period of 30 years, the growing entrepreneurial culture at the K.U.Leuven, in combination with the specialized support offered by K.U.Leuven Research & Development, has led to the creation of more than 50 spin-offs. Centrally located in Flanders and Europe, the Leuven Region, with its renowned knowledge institutes, its science parks and its presence of venture capitalists, provides a fertile breeding-ground for high-tech business development. K.U.Leuven is a private institution founded in 1425. For more information, see http://www.kuleuven.ac.be/lrd
About Index Ventures
Index Ventures is a leading pan-European venture capital fund dedicated to investments in information technology and life sciences. Index proactively seeks out the top entrepreneurial teams in each of its target investment areas and leverages its core assets in helping entrepreneurs build their companies into global leaders. Index Ventures' investors include leading technology companies and institutional investors. Index investments in the semiconductor and EDA area include Virata (GlobespanVirata), Commquest (acquired by IBM), Numerical Technologies (acquired by Synopsis), Aptix and Pulsic. To learn more about Index Ventures visit: http://www.indexventures.com.
About Innovacom
INNOVACOM was established in 1988 as the venture capital company sponsored by France Telecom. Innovacom provides seed money and early round equity financing to innovative companies in the fields of components, hardware, software and services dedicated to telecommunications. Innovacom has 500 m Euro under management, and invests internationally, through offices in Paris, San Francisco and Stockholm. Innovacom has nurtured several successful operations through their founding and early stages, including Gemplus Card, Business Objects, Com1, Experdata, Picogiga, Cobalt, HighWave Optical, Algety Corvis, Memscap, InfoVista, Intershop, Soitec and Generix. To learn more about Innovacom, visit: http://www.innovacom.com.