Villeneuve d’Ascq & Paris, January 22nd, 2013 FSN PME, managed by CDC Entreprises– in the context of the Programme d’Investissements d’Avenir, together with Iris Capital, VIVES, Capitalaria and early investors of the company, announce an investment in DelfMEMS, a developer of MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems) switching solutions for applications in the RadioFrequency (RF) communication field. The funding of €8.2M ($10.5M), of which €3,5M ($4,5M) from the FSN PME, will enable DelfMEMS to accelerate the industrialisation of its products. The company also announces the appointment of Guillaume d’Eyssautier as CEO.
DelfMEMS, a leading player in the field of RF components and developer of innovative RF MEMS switching solutions, announces that the company has secured 8.2M€ ($10.5M) in round B funding. This substantial investment comes from CDC Entreprises, Iris Capital, Capitalaria, VIVES as well as previous investors (A2D Invest, Alliansys, Finorpa, Inovam, Rhône-Alpes-Création, and business angels). The new funding will be used to support the company’s growth in the next generation wireless front-end modules for mobile devices like smart phones and tablets. DelfMEMS proposes a new integrated micro-mechanical building block that is based on a strong, totally new IP portfolio that solves past issues and substantially improves insertion loss, linearity, integration, hot switching behavior, switching time (<1?s), and power consumption to simplify RF architectures.
”DelfMEMS’ technology enables its customers to increase bandwidth while minimizing cost, size, and consumption,” explains Olivier Millet, founder of DelfMEMS.
“These funds will enable us to qualify first design wins and DelfMEMS manufacturing process including Thin Film Packaging with our partner for high volume manufacturing entity in the USA. The goal is to support the aggressive production ramp-up of our customers to penetrate the market.” DelfMEMS is currently engaged with the leaders of equipment for mobile applications and is also pursuing instrumentation, defence, and other high added value applications.
Along with the investment, DelfMEMS appoints Guillaume d’Eyssautier as its new CEO. Olivier Millet, the company’s former chief executive officer and founder, will remain on the board and will take the role of chief strategy and marketing officer of DelfMEMS. Guillaume d’Eyssautier career has spanned over the past 30 years in the semiconductor industry, including management positions in both Europe and the USA. Most recently he was CEO of ADD semiconductor that he sold to Atmel in October 2011. Prior to ADD he was CEO of picoChip, sold to Mindspeed. Prior to that, he served as Senior VP-GM at Cadence Design Systems, VP-GM EMEA for IBM Technology Group (Microelectronics and Storage) and hold executive and management positions at Rockwell Semiconductor, GEC-Plessey Semiconductor, Matra Harris Semiconductors and Philips Semiconductors .
Olivier Millet, commented, “We founded DelfMEMS with the vision of being a major player in wireless, and we are delighted to appoint a CEO who has the ideal pedigree to capitalize on this. We worked closely with Guillaume during the past months to make the transition seamless for our customers. With an impeccable track record of CEO of technology start-ups and senior management positions within blue-chip semiconductor and design companies, it would be difficult to imagine a better candidate than Guillaume to lead DelfMEMS as it moves up to the next level in its evolution.”
Guillaume d’Eyssautier commented, “I have worked across the semiconductor industry in a variety of first-rate companies and I am very proud to have joined DelfMEMS. We have an incredibly attractive technology, as recognized by our great customers and partners. I look forward to building on these achievements and DelfMEMS becoming a wonderful success.”
Commenting on the investment, “The round, which brings total company funding to $17 million, is a significant boost for DelfMEMS to extend its leadership as a RFMEMS vendor. Guillaume d’Eyssautier concludes, “this funding, along with our major design wins and rapidly growing revenue, will take us comfortably to the point of volume production and position us well for success.”
“DelfMEMS reached a point where significant cash infusion was needed to support its client traction“, states Frédéric Le Brun, investment director at CDC Entreprises, ”With Iris Capital, VIVES and Capitalaria, we are taking over from the historical investors, who have backed the growth of DelfMEMs from its inception with the ambition of turning it into a worldwide leader. This deal, led by both local and national players among which funds that are backed by CDC Entreprises, totally illustrates the FSN PME’s strategy,”.
