Israel's Altair Raises $22 Mln to Help Expansion - Reuters

Israel's Altair Raises $22 Mln to Help Expansion
Reuters
Tova Cohen

Sept. 30, 2008

Israel's Altair Semiconductor, which develops chips for fourth generation (4G) mobile services, said on Tuesday it raised an additional $22 million.

The funding, in the form of a combined equity and credit investment, was led by private equity firm Pacific Technology Fund, and joined by returning investors.

The funding will be used for Altair's global expansion, sales and customer support, as well as future development of Altair's chipsets for WiMax and other 4G mobile technology.

"We believe Altair's chipsets are going to change the rules of the game in the 4G market with lower power consumption, smaller size and decreased cost of bringing products to market," Adriaan Lightenberg, managing partner of Pacific Technology Fund, said.

Altair has said the cellular industry will eventually migrate to next generation broadband technology, which includes the technology known as WiMax, which provides Internet access over long ranges.

Altair has raised a total of $48 million in three rounds of financing from investors, including $18 million in May 2007.