CC

Christy Chou

Partner and CFO

Ron Norris

General Partner

KT

Kai Tsang

Managing Partner

46 past transactions

Teknovus

Series C in 2005
Teknovus, Inc., a fabless semiconductor and software solutions company, develops and supplies access chips and embedded software for the FTTx market. It offers Ethernet passive optical network (EPON) integrated chips for central office and customer premises applications; EPON customer premises equipment ONU; TDM transport chips that provide the circuit emulation of T1/E1/J1 on various Ethernet switched networks; evaluation kits, which support original equipment manufacturers and service provider customers; EPON OLT solutions that offer a system-on-a-chip approach to the original equipment manufacturers; and TK3401 Intelligent EPON Node Controller that enables service providers to meet various needs of network topologies and subscriber densities. The company’s system-on-a-chips incorporate firmware for the embedded processor to control the hardware. Teknovus, Inc. markets its products through distributors in the United States, Europe, and China. Teknovus, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Petaluma, California with sales and support centers in Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. The company also has a location in San Jose, California.

Quellan

Series C in 2007
Quellan, Inc. designs, develops, and markets analog signal processing and radio frequency noise cancellation integrated circuits (IC) for application in automotive, computing, data center, storage, consumer electronics, and wireless markets. The company’s products include noise cancellers that sense unwanted noise and then apply an opposite signal to the receive path; system developer kits for mobile television applications and GPS applications; quad lane extenders ICs, which deliver analog signal integrity to data center equipment and interconnects; single lane extenders ICs; evaluation boards and kits; cable modules and active cables; and cable module kits. Its products are used in various data center applications, such as active cable, linecard, and backplane; and wireless applications, including global positioning systems and mobile television. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. As of August 6, 2009, Quellan, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Intersil Corp.

Impinj, Inc.

Series E in 2007
Impinj is a provider of RAIN RFID solutions that deliver Item Intelligence to retail, pharmaceutical, healthcare, food and beverage, and many other industries. We enable the Internet of Things to identify, locate and authenticate billions of items, and our Item Intelligence platform comprises the most comprehensive and widely adopted RAIN RFID product portfolio in the world. For more information about Impinj, visit www.impinj.com.

InvenSense

Series C in 2008
InvenSense Inc. (NYSE: INVN) is the leading provider of MotionTracking™ sensor system on chip (SoC) and Sound solutions for consumer electronic devices. The company’s patented InvenSense Fabrication Platform and patent-pending MotionFusion™ technology address the emerging needs of many mass-market consumer applications via improved performance, accuracy, and intuitive motion-, gesture- and sound-based interfaces. InvenSense technology can be found in consumer electronic products including smartphones, tablets, gaming devices, optical image stabilization, and remote controls for Smart TVs. The company’s MotionTracking products are also being integrated into a number of industrial applications. InvenSense is headquartered in San Jose, California and has offices in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Slovakia, and Wilmington, MA. More information can be found at www.invensense.com.

Britestream Networks

Series C in 2005
Britestream Networks (formerly Layer N Networks) provides breakthrough solutions for the rapidly growing security market. Britestream's patented Instream Security Processing architecture offers a unique combination of powerful simplicity, uncompromised performance, and fortified security. From existing applications such as servers, load balancers, firewalls, and content switches to fast-growing emerging applications such as SSL VPNs, XML/Web Services, and secure e-mail gateways, Britestream's board and chip solutions remove all barriers and penalties of ubiquitously deploying security. This is Internet security as it is meant to be. Automatic. Easy. Everywhere.

Powervation

Debt Financing in 2014
Powervation provides a new class of Auto-control digital power IC solutions that optimize power-supply performance and efficiencies for manufacturers of electronic systems used in Computing, NetComms, Storage and other applications. In a simple yet revolutionary Plug-and-Power package, our unique technology delivers a reliable, scalable solution that reduces design complexity and cost, and accelerates time-to-market of eco power-smart systems.

Litchfield Communications

Series A in 2000
Litchfield Communications, Inc. (LCI) was founded in October 2000 by Steve Watts, Dave Danenberg and Tom Johnson. LCI shareholders include Kodiak Venture Partners, Commonwealth Capital, PMC-Sierra and Venture Tech Alliance (the investment arm of TSMC). LCI's mission is to be a premier supplier of standards-based semiconductor technology, reference designs, and support software for the next-generation of networking equipment with a principal focus in emulation of non-IP protocols over packet-switched infrastructures (such as MPLS, Optical Ethernet, Resilient Packet Ring, and IP).

Audience, Inc.

Series E in 2009
Audience, Inc provides engineering talent focused on audio processing solutions for mobile devices. Audience, Inc. provides voice and audio solutions for mobile devices in South Korea, China, the United States, and internationally. Its platform consists of proprietary, purpose-built digital signal processors and audio codecs, analog and mixed signal circuits, and algorithms for voice isolation and noise suppression.

Advasense

Series B in 2007
Advasense, a fabless semiconductor company, develops CMOS image sensor products for the mobile phone market. It offers multi-mega pixel CMOS image sensors, which provides vibrant and sharp images at low-light conditions. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in Ra'anana, Israel.

Optichron

Venture Round in 2007
Optichron®, Inc., a leader in nonlinear signal processing technology, designs and manufactures integrated circuits that enable significant improvements in system-level cost:performance for communications applications. Founded in January 2003, Optichron focuses on a significant technology challenge - a solution to the performance bottleneck caused by nonlinear distortion, a long-standing engineering barrier in many industries relying on signal processing technologies. Industry experts have long recognized nonlinear distortion as the principal roadblock to tapping the optimum performance potential in communications, data conversion and other signal processing applications because previous engineering approaches were inefficient, inadequate, cumbersome or expensive. There team has developed a proprietary mathematical approach to solving nonlinear distortion, from which we have derived a robust integrated circuit architecture that is the core of our linearization products. By efficiently eliminating all types of nonlinear distortion, our linearization technology significantly improves the parameters for overall system design and, through reduced component count and more efficient operation, lowers cost and power consumption. We embed our linearization technology in our practical, high-performance linearization products for applications such as wireless communications, software-defined radio, medical imaging, satellite communications, radar, infrared imaging, and test and measurement instrumentation.

Powervation

Series C in 2014
Powervation provides a new class of Auto-control digital power IC solutions that optimize power-supply performance and efficiencies for manufacturers of electronic systems used in Computing, NetComms, Storage and other applications. In a simple yet revolutionary Plug-and-Power package, our unique technology delivers a reliable, scalable solution that reduces design complexity and cost, and accelerates time-to-market of eco power-smart systems.
Power Analog Microelectronics, Inc. (PAM), established in 2004, focuses on advanced analog, and high-voltage power integrated circuits. The company's mission is to deliver environmentally friendly "green" integrated circuits that are both highly efficient and space saving allowing customers to deliver the most advanced and cost effective solutions to the market place. PAM was founded in Silicon Valley by business executives with senior management experience in running publicly listed companies, plus key technologists and design experts in the analog and power IC fields. Besides the company's headquarters in Silicon Valley with an advanced research and development center, PAM also has set up technical support centers in Shanghai, shenzhen and Taipei.

Aquantia

Series D in 2009
At Aquantia, all three elements are present in abundance. Aquantia benefits from team members with a depth of diverse technology development expertise, signal processing innovation and an adherence to lean and agile management practices. Their engineers were at the forefront of the Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet product deployments, and are among the best in production silicon design. Meet their leadership team, or the board and investors to see their guidance, financial backing and the company they've built.

Validity Sensors

Series D in 2010
Founded in 2000, and headquartered in San Jose, California, Validity is the world leader in Natural ID™ authentication, providing fingerprint sensor solutions with the highest levels of performance, security, cost-effectiveness, and design flexibility. Validity’s Natural ID solutions provide an ideal platform for addressing the explosive growth in mobile payment transactions and cloud-based services. Passwords and PINs are ineffective at meeting the needs of end users and service providers as they're either too easy to hack or too hard to remember. Natural ID provides a simple and effective way to optimize usability while providing strong security. Natural ID authenticates a user by their unique human characteristics such as fingerprint, voice, and face. Of these, fingerprints have been proven to provide the best combination of effectiveness, cost, and usability.

Astera Labs, Inc.

Series C in 2021
Astera Labs, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, designs, manufactures, and supplies semiconductors and purpose-built connectivity solutions for data-centric systems. It offers system-aware semiconductor integrated circuits and boards; Aries PCIe smart retimers; systems, such as riser cards, PCIe-over-cable extender cards, and GPU booster cards; design and testing services. The company’s products are used in server connectivity, deployment, interoperation, distributed machine learning, and high-end gaming graphics applications. Astera Labs, Inc. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

Stion Corporation

Series D in 2010
Stion Corporation manufactures and distributes thin-film solar modules. Its products are used in residential, commercial/government, utility, and off grid applications. The company markets and sells its products through a network of authorized dealers in the United States and internationally. Stion Corporation was formerly known as NStructures, Inc. The company was founded in 2006 and is based in San Jose, California with a manufacturing facility in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Impinj, Inc.

Series D in 2005
Impinj is a provider of RAIN RFID solutions that deliver Item Intelligence to retail, pharmaceutical, healthcare, food and beverage, and many other industries. We enable the Internet of Things to identify, locate and authenticate billions of items, and our Item Intelligence platform comprises the most comprehensive and widely adopted RAIN RFID product portfolio in the world. For more information about Impinj, visit www.impinj.com.

Ikanos

Series E in 2004
Ikanos develops robust, high performance semiconductor and software products. Their advanced communications processors, broadband DSL and other devices power access infrastructure and customer premises equipment for many of the world’s leading network equipment manufacturers and telecommunications service providers. With more than 330 million ports shipped to date, they are enabling the cost-effective delivery of triple- and quadruple-play services to and throughout homes and offices around the world.

Validity Sensors

Series A in 2006
Founded in 2000, and headquartered in San Jose, California, Validity is the world leader in Natural ID™ authentication, providing fingerprint sensor solutions with the highest levels of performance, security, cost-effectiveness, and design flexibility. Validity’s Natural ID solutions provide an ideal platform for addressing the explosive growth in mobile payment transactions and cloud-based services. Passwords and PINs are ineffective at meeting the needs of end users and service providers as they're either too easy to hack or too hard to remember. Natural ID provides a simple and effective way to optimize usability while providing strong security. Natural ID authenticates a user by their unique human characteristics such as fingerprint, voice, and face. Of these, fingerprints have been proven to provide the best combination of effectiveness, cost, and usability.

Neoconix

Series C in 2007
Neoconix specializes in miniaturized low-profile electrical connectors. It supplies miniaturized, low-profile, high-performance electrical connectors for mobile, enterprise IT, and industrial markets. The company’s patented PCBeamTM technology leverages standard Printed Circuit Lithographic processes used for PCBs, enabling rapid development and delivery of custom electrical connector solutions at very competitive price points. With over 60 patents issued or pending, Neoconix PCBeamTM Technology delivers the lowest profile electrical connectors in the industry, coupled with very high reliability and extreme performance (at over 25Gb/s) for applications such as mobile consumer electronics, medical devices, wearable electronics, telecommunications and much more.

Powervation

Series C in 2012
Powervation provides a new class of Auto-control digital power IC solutions that optimize power-supply performance and efficiencies for manufacturers of electronic systems used in Computing, NetComms, Storage and other applications. In a simple yet revolutionary Plug-and-Power package, our unique technology delivers a reliable, scalable solution that reduces design complexity and cost, and accelerates time-to-market of eco power-smart systems.

Centrality Communications

Series D in 2005
Centrality Communications, Inc. was acquired by SiRF Technology Holdings Inc. Centrality Communications, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, delivers platform solutions for the navigation infotainment devices and systems market. It develops GPS navigation infotainment system platforms. The company offers a navigation processor family that focus on solving navigation problems, such as cost, GPS performance, and navigation and multimedia functionality. Its navigation processor family includes Atlas-I, a GPS engine and entry level platform, which targets baseline systems for the mainstream consumer; and Atlas-II processor that targets GPS navigation infotainment systems. The company also provides ATLAS-H, a type handheld processor, which delivers integration for portable navigation devices and handheld navigation terminals.

AGEIA Technologies

Series C in 2005
AGEIA Technologies, Inc. develops hardware-accelerated physics for PC games. It offers PhysX, a physics engine and processor that bridges the gap between static virtual worlds and responsive unscripted physical reality. The company’s PhysX processor also provides hardcore gamers and gaming enthusiasts with simulations of collisions, explosions, complex jointed geometries, fabrics, dense smoke and liquids, multiple objects and particles, and other physical effects. It also offers a software development kit to simplify physics programming and gaming consoles. AGEIA Technologies was founded in 2002 and is based in Santa Clara, California with an additional office in Mountain View, California. As of February 10, 2008, AGEIA Technologies, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of NVIDIA Corporation.

Axiom Microdevices

Series A in 2003
Axiom Microdevices, Inc. provides integrated complementary metal oxide semiconductor power amplifiers for the cellular telephone market. Its technology offers the advances in radio frequency integration, enabling customers to reduce design complexities and bill of materials. The company has operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Taiwan, and South Korea. Axiom Microdevices, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is based in Irvine, California. As of June 2, 2009, Axiom Microdevices, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Skyworks Solutions Inc.

Axiom Microdevices

Series C in 2007
Axiom Microdevices, Inc. provides integrated complementary metal oxide semiconductor power amplifiers for the cellular telephone market. Its technology offers the advances in radio frequency integration, enabling customers to reduce design complexities and bill of materials. The company has operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Taiwan, and South Korea. Axiom Microdevices, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is based in Irvine, California. As of June 2, 2009, Axiom Microdevices, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Skyworks Solutions Inc.

Aquantia

Series F in 2012
At Aquantia, all three elements are present in abundance. Aquantia benefits from team members with a depth of diverse technology development expertise, signal processing innovation and an adherence to lean and agile management practices. Their engineers were at the forefront of the Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet product deployments, and are among the best in production silicon design. Meet their leadership team, or the board and investors to see their guidance, financial backing and the company they've built.

NuCore Technologies Inc.

Series E in 2004
Nucore Technology is a developer of digital and analog imaging devices for cameras and video cameras. The company has 72 employees. Nucore Technology, founded in May 1997, has undergone five rounds of equity financing amounting to US$84 million, the company's Web site says.

Optichron

Series B in 2005
Optichron®, Inc., a leader in nonlinear signal processing technology, designs and manufactures integrated circuits that enable significant improvements in system-level cost:performance for communications applications. Founded in January 2003, Optichron focuses on a significant technology challenge - a solution to the performance bottleneck caused by nonlinear distortion, a long-standing engineering barrier in many industries relying on signal processing technologies. Industry experts have long recognized nonlinear distortion as the principal roadblock to tapping the optimum performance potential in communications, data conversion and other signal processing applications because previous engineering approaches were inefficient, inadequate, cumbersome or expensive. There team has developed a proprietary mathematical approach to solving nonlinear distortion, from which we have derived a robust integrated circuit architecture that is the core of our linearization products. By efficiently eliminating all types of nonlinear distortion, our linearization technology significantly improves the parameters for overall system design and, through reduced component count and more efficient operation, lowers cost and power consumption. We embed our linearization technology in our practical, high-performance linearization products for applications such as wireless communications, software-defined radio, medical imaging, satellite communications, radar, infrared imaging, and test and measurement instrumentation.

BridgeLux

Series D in 2008
Bridgelux is the first, new US-based light-emitting diode (LED) chip company in the past 20 years. The Company’s focus is bringing innovation to light by providing high power, energy-efficient and cost-effective LED solutions. Bridgelux actively supports its customers by delivering value-added, application-specific solutions that will open up new markets in solid-state lighting (SSL). Customers leverage Bridgelux’s technology to replace traditional lamp and luminaire technologies (such as incandescent, halogen and fluorescent lighting solutions) with solid-state products that provide high performance and energy-efficient white light for general lighting applications. Bridgelux’s current and future-generation products support global clean energy initiatives by reducing energy consumption and offering environmentally friendly solutions.

Ikanos

Series C in 2001
Ikanos develops robust, high performance semiconductor and software products. Their advanced communications processors, broadband DSL and other devices power access infrastructure and customer premises equipment for many of the world’s leading network equipment manufacturers and telecommunications service providers. With more than 330 million ports shipped to date, they are enabling the cost-effective delivery of triple- and quadruple-play services to and throughout homes and offices around the world.

NextIO

Series C in 2008
NextIO, Inc was an information technology company based in Austin, Texas.

Aquantia

Series B in 2008
At Aquantia, all three elements are present in abundance. Aquantia benefits from team members with a depth of diverse technology development expertise, signal processing innovation and an adherence to lean and agile management practices. Their engineers were at the forefront of the Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet product deployments, and are among the best in production silicon design. Meet their leadership team, or the board and investors to see their guidance, financial backing and the company they've built.

Miradia

Series C in 2006
Miradia designs and manufactures micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) products. The company, through its technology, integrates MEMS structures directly on complementary metal-oxide semiconductors and wafer scale packaging. Miradia was formerly known as XHP Microsystems, Inc. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Sunnyvale, California. As of April 7, 2009, Miradia, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Touch Micro-system Technology.

Powervation

Series B in 2009
Powervation provides a new class of Auto-control digital power IC solutions that optimize power-supply performance and efficiencies for manufacturers of electronic systems used in Computing, NetComms, Storage and other applications. In a simple yet revolutionary Plug-and-Power package, our unique technology delivers a reliable, scalable solution that reduces design complexity and cost, and accelerates time-to-market of eco power-smart systems.

Validity Sensors

Series C in 2009
Founded in 2000, and headquartered in San Jose, California, Validity is the world leader in Natural ID™ authentication, providing fingerprint sensor solutions with the highest levels of performance, security, cost-effectiveness, and design flexibility. Validity’s Natural ID solutions provide an ideal platform for addressing the explosive growth in mobile payment transactions and cloud-based services. Passwords and PINs are ineffective at meeting the needs of end users and service providers as they're either too easy to hack or too hard to remember. Natural ID provides a simple and effective way to optimize usability while providing strong security. Natural ID authenticates a user by their unique human characteristics such as fingerprint, voice, and face. Of these, fingerprints have been proven to provide the best combination of effectiveness, cost, and usability.

TZero Technologies

Series B in 2006
TZero Technologies designs and develops ultra wideband semiconductors for video distribution. The company offers wirelessly connects devices and ultra wideband chipsets, which connect audiovisual components, such as televisions, set-top boxes, and digital video recorders. It serves consumer electronics, service providers, and computer manufacturers. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

Miradia

Series B in 2004
Miradia designs and manufactures micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) products. The company, through its technology, integrates MEMS structures directly on complementary metal-oxide semiconductors and wafer scale packaging. Miradia was formerly known as XHP Microsystems, Inc. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Sunnyvale, California. As of April 7, 2009, Miradia, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Touch Micro-system Technology.

Miradia

Series C in 2007
Miradia designs and manufactures micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) products. The company, through its technology, integrates MEMS structures directly on complementary metal-oxide semiconductors and wafer scale packaging. Miradia was formerly known as XHP Microsystems, Inc. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Sunnyvale, California. As of April 7, 2009, Miradia, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Touch Micro-system Technology.

Aquantia

Series E in 2011
At Aquantia, all three elements are present in abundance. Aquantia benefits from team members with a depth of diverse technology development expertise, signal processing innovation and an adherence to lean and agile management practices. Their engineers were at the forefront of the Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet product deployments, and are among the best in production silicon design. Meet their leadership team, or the board and investors to see their guidance, financial backing and the company they've built.

Neoconix

Venture Round in 2012
Neoconix specializes in miniaturized low-profile electrical connectors. It supplies miniaturized, low-profile, high-performance electrical connectors for mobile, enterprise IT, and industrial markets. The company’s patented PCBeamTM technology leverages standard Printed Circuit Lithographic processes used for PCBs, enabling rapid development and delivery of custom electrical connector solutions at very competitive price points. With over 60 patents issued or pending, Neoconix PCBeamTM Technology delivers the lowest profile electrical connectors in the industry, coupled with very high reliability and extreme performance (at over 25Gb/s) for applications such as mobile consumer electronics, medical devices, wearable electronics, telecommunications and much more.

Placeport

Angel Round in 2012
Placeport is a full service web solution that handles everything from the initial wireframe to a fully functioning website. It creates a fully managed environment for the creation, design, and administration of websites. The tools provided by Placeport help professionals, developers, and entrepreneurs as well as bloggers, artists, and visionaries to present appealing messages. It was launched in 2012 and is based in Munich, Bayern.

Powervation

Series B in 2009
Powervation provides a new class of Auto-control digital power IC solutions that optimize power-supply performance and efficiencies for manufacturers of electronic systems used in Computing, NetComms, Storage and other applications. In a simple yet revolutionary Plug-and-Power package, our unique technology delivers a reliable, scalable solution that reduces design complexity and cost, and accelerates time-to-market of eco power-smart systems.

Stion Corporation

Private Equity Round in 2011
Stion Corporation manufactures and distributes thin-film solar modules. Its products are used in residential, commercial/government, utility, and off grid applications. The company markets and sells its products through a network of authorized dealers in the United States and internationally. Stion Corporation was formerly known as NStructures, Inc. The company was founded in 2006 and is based in San Jose, California with a manufacturing facility in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Power Analog Microelectronics

Venture Round in 2007
Power Analog Microelectronics, Inc. (PAM), established in 2004, focuses on advanced analog, and high-voltage power integrated circuits. The company's mission is to deliver environmentally friendly "green" integrated circuits that are both highly efficient and space saving allowing customers to deliver the most advanced and cost effective solutions to the market place. PAM was founded in Silicon Valley by business executives with senior management experience in running publicly listed companies, plus key technologists and design experts in the analog and power IC fields. Besides the company's headquarters in Silicon Valley with an advanced research and development center, PAM also has set up technical support centers in Shanghai, shenzhen and Taipei.

TZero Technologies

Series C in 2008
TZero Technologies designs and develops ultra wideband semiconductors for video distribution. The company offers wirelessly connects devices and ultra wideband chipsets, which connect audiovisual components, such as televisions, set-top boxes, and digital video recorders. It serves consumer electronics, service providers, and computer manufacturers. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.