VCs Get Fruity for Fabless

You’d think that the venture community has gone fruity for fabless fundings, with so many deals closing recently.

The latest are two startup electronic design automation (EDA) companies, Takumi and Carbon Design Systems.

Tikumi raised $4 million in a stealth round conducted last fall that was led by Applied Materials Ventures and IT Farm, a Japanese venture firm.

Carbon Design Systems announced last week a $10 million Series B round led by Matrix Partners and Flagship Ventures.

Both companies target the EDA market that is dominated by three public firms – Cadence, Mentor Graphics and Synopsys and which account for just over $3 billion of the $4 billion annual EDA industry’s revenue.

Garo Toomajanian, a research analyst at RBC Capital Markets in Boston, says the investments are timely.

“This year, we will see increased activity in the EDA market because the industry typically has an upswing six months to one year after the pickup in orders for semiconductor manufacturers,” he says.