Fresco Microchip Raises $9 Million Series C Round

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Ontario Venture Capital Fund Joins as Newest Investor

TORONTO — Fresco Microchip Inc., a developer of leading-edge RF, mixed-signal and digital signal processing integrated circuits (ICs), today announced that it has secured funding in a series C financing round totaling $9 million. The Ontario Venture Capital Fund (OVCF) joins Fresco’s existing investors, which include Celtic House Venture Partners and Ventures West. Funds will be used to commercialize Fresco’s expanded product portfolio and to augment the company’s ability to serve customer demand in emerging markets.

With millions of chips shipped in hundreds of television models worldwide, Fresco is the de-facto standard for picture quality and optimal system cost in global television markets. The company’s field-proven TV demodulators enable sharper visual quality, richer brightness and more vivid colors, which enrich the overall viewing experience. Capitalizing on the company’s market leadership and vast engineering expertise in analog and digital television, Fresco has launched a family of silicon tuner products that reduce design complexity and system cost. Fresco’s silicon tuners leverage an innovative, game-changing architecture that eliminates redundant functionality and components commonly found in analog-only and hybrid televisions.

“Fresco’s success is a direct result of our ongoing commitment to deliver value through innovation,” said Lance Greggain, CEO, president, and co-founder of Fresco Microchip. “We are delighted to expand our investor syndicate with solid backing from Canada’s leading investment partners, which is a testament of our team’s technical know-how, deep market understanding and ability to deliver industry-leading products in high volume to our customers.”

“Fresco’s phenomenal growth in its first year of initial production demonstrates the distinct competitive advantage of the company’s technology,” said Brian Antonen, partner, Celtic House. “The addition of the OVCF to the investment syndicate will accelerate the company’s growth and paves the way for continued success with the launch of Fresco’s latest products.”

“Ventures West has been an investor in Fresco since its inception,” said Ted Anderson, managing general partner of Ventures West. “The company established itself as an industry leader with excellent brand recognition and quality, innovative products. We believe the company’s new products have tremendous potential to fundamentally change television technology.”

“OVCF is delighted to join our investment partners to support Fresco’s next stage of growth to deliver world class returns,” said Ian Carew, director of Northleaf Capital Partners, the manager of OVCF. “OVCF was designed to support innovative, emerging companies in Ontario, and Fresco is a great example of a high-potential firm that is well positioned to succeed on the global stage.”