Advasense Raised Its Second Financing Round Led by BlueRun Ventures and Giza Venture Capital.RA'ANANA, Israel -- Advasense Inc., a privately held fabless semiconductor company A fabless semiconductor company specializes in the design and sale of hardware devices implemented on semiconductor chips. It achieves an advantage by outsourcing the fabrication of the devices to a specialized semiconductor manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry or "fab. , announced today that it has raised a $6M Series B financing round, led by existing investors BlueRun Ventures and Giza Venture Capital. The company will use the money to complete its first product. Advasense is developing next-generation multi-MegaPixel CMOS image sensors A CMOS-based chip that records the intensities of light as variable charges similar to a CCD chip. Although initially used in less expensive digital cameras, the quality of CMOS sensors has improved steadily. CMOS sensors have advantages over CCDs. for cellular phones, which enables the phones to have the same image quality as stand-alone Digital Still Cameras. The Advasense CMOS image sensors are unique in their extreme low light sensitivity, exhibiting a 10x performance improvement in low light environments compared to current CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Pronounced "c-moss." The most widely used integrated circuit design. It is found in almost every electronic product from handheld devices to mainframes. and CCD sensors, and feature ground-breaking on-chip image stabilization Image stabilization (IS) is a family of techniques to increase the stability of an image. It is used in image-stabilized binoculars, photography, videography, and astronomical telescopes. technology. The high quality and sensitivity of the Advasense CMOS image sensors enable the mass-market, day-to-day usage of camera phones in every lighting situation, without requiring a special flash or light which puts a heavy strain on the phone's battery. The Advasense image sensors also include an innovative pixel architecture, which enables very small pixel size using low-cost, mature CMOS processes. Advasense was founded in 2004 by Vladimir Koifman and Nathan Baron, both experts in chip design, analog, digital and image processing image processing Set of computational techniques for analyzing, enhancing, compressing, and reconstructing images. Its main components are importing, in which an image is captured through scanning or digital photography; analysis and manipulation of the image, accomplished , who together hold over 45 granted patents in these fields. Co-founder and serial entrepreneur Serial entrepreneur Business person that successfully starts (does not kill) a number of different businesses. Gidi Barak serves as the company's Chairman of the Board. Advasense employs over 30 engineers in its R&D center in Ra'anana, Israel, and is managed by Naftaly Sharir, an experienced high-tech entrepreneur who was previously CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Emblaze em·blaze 1 tr.v. em·blazed, em·blaz·ing, em·blaz·es 1. To set on fire. 2. To cause to glow; light up. Semiconductor, a leading vendor of multimedia processors for mobile handsets. The capital raised in this round will assist the company in completing its first product, as well as launching the next product line. "Advasense has great potential to become a global powerhouse in the camera phone sensor market," said Yossi Hasson, partner at BlueRun ventures. "The company is experiencing strong interest from cellular phone and camera module vendors in Taiwan, China and Korea, and we are looking forward to the launch of the company's first product". "The unique technology developed by Advasense, which enables cellular phones to function as digital still cameras in every lighting situation without a flash gives the company a tremendous advantage in today's highly competitive mobile semiconductor market," said Ori Kirshner, Managing Director at Giza Venture Capital. "We are confident that the company's excellent technical and management team will produce a high-quality innovative product that will be demanded by top-tier mobile handset vendors." About BlueRun Ventures Launched in 1998, BlueRun Ventures is a leading early stage venture capital fund. BlueRun Ventures' proven approach is to invest globally as a single fund in best-of-breed technologies and teams with the drive and ability to build leading global companies. BlueRun Ventures is headquartered in Menlo Park, California Menlo Park is a city in San Mateo County, California in the United States of America. It is located at latitude 37°29' North, longitude 122°9' East. Menlo Park had 30,785 inhabitants as of the 2000 U.S. Census. , with offices in Helsinki, Herzelia (Israel), London, New Delhi New Delhi (dĕl`ē), city (1991 pop. 294,149), capital of India and of Delhi state, N central India, on the right bank of the Yamuna River. , Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.brv.com. About Giza Venture Capital Founded in 1992, Giza Venture Capital manages four funds with a total of $500 Million. Giza has invested in 82 seed and early stages companies, in the sectors of Communication, Semiconductors, Information Technology and Life Sciences, with 29 exits to date. Giza is known for its professional expertise and extensive management experience, and is supported by leading international investors from the USA, Europe, Asia and Israel. For more information, visit www.gizavc.com |
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