Transatlantic syndicate provides $30 million to Systemonic

Dresden-based Systemonic, a wireless communication chip specialist, in November raised $30 million in second-round funding from an investor syndicate led by Apax Partners. Apax, which invested from its Europe IV fund, was joined by Lehman Brothers, Robertson Stephens’ Bayview 2000, Atlas Venture and Krone mt. Atlas Venture and Krone, together with the German government fund Technologie Beteiligungs Gesellschaft, provided Systemonic’s $5 million first funding round.

Systemonic has developed a highly flexible technology that can be applied across many areas of the wireless semiconductor market. Its OnDSP platform allows core functionality for broadband wireless systems to be realised in software layers on the chip, whereas in traditional chip design, functionality is hardwired. OnDSP gives Systemonic the flexibility quickly to support changes in emerging and convergent wireless standards. Systemonic’s first product, HiperSonic is the first chip to be applicable for both the European HiperLAN2 and the US IEEE 802.11a standards. The company expects to ship its first chipsets at the end of the first quarter of next year.

This second funding round will support Systemonic as it moves aggressively into the US and Asian markets while consolidating its position in Europe.