Tropian Inc. Completes $45 Million Funding Round
Patented Polar ImpactTM technology receives significant investment
CUPERTINO, CA -- October 2, 2001 -- Tropian, Inc., a Silicon Valley-based advanced wireless communications products company, announced today that it has closed $45 million in Series D equity funding. Merrill Lynch Ventures LLC led the financing and was joined by several new and existing financial investors and a new strategic partner.
In its largest funding round to date, Tropian received substantial investments from existing investors Crosspoint Venture Partners, Convergence Ventures and Investar Venture Capital. In addition to round leader Merrill Lynch Ventures, new investment was received from Bank of America Investment Corporation, China Development Industrial Bank, and TCW / YFY Investment Partners. Tropian also received funding from strategic investor Agilent Ventures, a unit of Agilent Technologies Inc.
"The strength of Tropian's technology and newly-launched products is evidenced by the significant backing of our new and returning investors," said Michael Farese, Tropian's president and CEO. "The investment will enable us to complete our plans to commercialize our Polar Impact technology and start product shipments for GAIT and GPRS/EGPRS cell phones based on the multi-mode Tropian TimeStarTM chipset."
Tropian's Polar Impact technology is a proprietary non-linear, polar modulation platform that enables multi-mode capability in wireless handsets and base stations, and offers dramatic improvements in system performance, manufacturability, and reliability. Tropian's patented technologies create and deliver cost-effective products which enable manufacturers to offer multi-mode, multi-band wireless devices that are backward and forward compatible with 1G (analog voice), 2G (digital voice), 2.5G and 3G (digital voice and high-speed data) wireless services for seamless operation around the world.
Tropian's first product, TimeStar, is a breakthrough, digital multi-mode, multi-band wireless transmitter. Using Tropian's Polar Impact non-linear polar modulation architecture, the TimeStar chipset enables wireless transmission of multiple voice and high-speed data standards including EDGE, GSM, GPRS, TDMA, GAIT and AMPS. First handset products using the Tropian TimeStar chipset are expected to be in the market during 2002.
Bob Hoff, General Partner at Crosspoint Ventures said, "We believe that digital polar modulation will become the defacto standard in wireless transmission, and we are confident that Tropian will be the first company to engage in volume manufacturing of Radio Frequency (RF) products utilizing polar modulation architecture. We look forward to participating in the continued growth and development of Tropian and its products."
Farese said the addition of Agilent to the company's list of strategic partners was an important element to the latest funding round. "As the wireless industry moves forward in development of 2.5G and 3G systems, Tropian looks forward to working with its strategic partners to provide solutions that will enable multi-mode voice and high speed data for hand held devices and base stations."
About Tropian
Tropian is a fabless semiconductor company involved in the design, development, and manufacturing of multi-mode, multi-band devices enabling implementation of 1G (analog voice), 2G (digital voice), 2.5G and 3G (digital voice and high-speed data) wireless standards in a single RF chip set. Tropian's products are based on its patented Polar Impact technology, a digital polar modulation platform that enables multi-mode capability in wireless handsets and base stations. Polar Impact allows Tropian's ICs to offer dramatic improvements in system performance, cost, manufacturability, and reliability. For more information, please visit Tropian at http://www.tropian.com or contact the US office at 408-865-1300 or the UK office at +44 1491 639705.