SEQUANS Communications, a leading supplier of fixed and mobile WiMAX chips, has raised US $24 million in a new round of equity financing. The round was led by Kennet Venture Partners, a leading international private equity firm that provides growth equity to technology businesses in Europe and the U.S. Sequans' existing investors, Add Partners, Cap Decisif, T-Source, SG Asset Management and Vision Capital, also participated in the round.
Sequans was founded in 2003 to develop and deliver fixed and mobile WiMAX system-on-chips (SoCs) for the fast-growing WiMAX equipment market. Sequans is the only WiMAX chipmaker to have received certification for both base station and subscriber station reference designs for fixed WiMAX. Sequans expects reference designs based on its mobile WiMAX chips that are currently sampling, to be certified in the first wave of WiMAX Forum mobile certification planned for later this year. The global WiMAX market is expected to reach $2.2 billion by 2008 according to Gartner.
Michael Elias, managing director of Kennet Venture Partners who joined the board of directors of Sequans as a result of the investment said, "Sequans has done an extraordinary job bringing to market solutions for fixed and mobile WiMAX in a short-time frame and with very efficient use of capital. With an impressive list of customers that include leading telecommunications companies, we view the Sequans team as one of the foremost wireless ASIC teams in the world. Now with significant capital on its balance sheet, we believe Sequans is extremely well-positioned to achieve leadership in the WiMAX market."
Georges Karam, Sequans CEO, said, "We are grateful to Kennet and to all of our existing investors for their support in ensuring that our aggressive development schedule stays on track. We will use our new funding to grow our organization, particularly in the areas of sales and customer support, and to further accelerate the introduction of high performance, low-power, low-cost integrated chips to support mobile and fixed applications."
Sequans was founded in 2003 by CEO Georges Karam and a team of engineers who previously worked together at a leading broadband wireless technology company. The Sequans team possesses a high level of expertise in systems, complex ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) design, advanced signal processing, MAC protocol and RFIC (radio frequency integrated circuit) design.
For this transaction, Sequans was advised by Clipperton Finance, a corporate finance boutique focused on the high tech and media sectors"
SEQUANS Communications is a leading supplier of fixed and mobile WiMAX silicon and software based on IEEE 802.16 standards. Offering both base station and subscriber station chips for both fixed and mobile WiMAX, Sequans provides a broader product line than any other WiMAX chipmaker. Sequans offers equipment manufacturers an all-in-one solution, including full MAC and PHY functionality, enabling them to build the complete range of WiMAX network components: high-end and pico base stations, outdoor and indoor subscriber terminals, home gateways, and all types of mobile devices. Sequans' WiMAX solutions feature high performance, very low power consumption, and incorporate all 802.16 standard requirements as well as additional features for increased coverage and mobility. Sequans, along with its RF partners, provide the most complete WiMAX solution available to system manufacturers today. Sequans' fixed WiMAX products are certified 802.16-2004-compliant and its mobile WiMAX products are expected to be certified when the wave 1 certification process begins later this year. Sequans is based in Paris, France with offices in USA, Israel and Singapore.
For more information please visit www.sequans.com
Founded in 1997, Kennet Venture Partners is a leading transatlantic private equity firm which provides expansion capital to companies in the areas of IT Services and Solutions, Enterprise Software, Communication Technologies and Semiconductor products. Kennet works with entrepreneurs that want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. Notable Kennet investments have included ChipIdea Microelectronics, Cramer Systems, Altitun (acquired by ADC Telecommunications), Paragon Software (acquired by Openwave), No Wires Needed (acquired by Intersil), and Ubizen (acquired by Cybertrust). Kennet Venture Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet II LP, a Guernsey limited partnership.