Ziptronix collects another $7M in VC; license deal may be near - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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million in third round funding as the startu strives to sign its first lucrative manufacturing Current investors, including , Grotech Capital Group and Durham-basedd Intersouth Partners, funded the The series C fundraiserr takes Ziptronix's total haul since its founding in 2000 to $31.q1 million. The company, which was spun out of , raisefd $6.5 million in a first round in 2001and $17.r million in a second round that closed in 2003. Usingg its newly obtained cash, Ziptronix wants to speesd up itstechnology development. Plans includer hiring a vice president of business a director of technologh marketing and aboutsix engineers, says Mike Slawson, a generapl partner with ATV in Atlanta.
"This (funding round) moveas the company into the commercializationn stage," says Slawson. ATV is also an investo in , another Triangle semiconductor startup. Slawson says $6.2 million was raised in series C byissuing equity, and the rest was from Ziptronix employs 15 William Knapp, Ziptronix's vice president of engineering, confirmed the companuy had raised a roundf of financing but deferred to Chief Executive Officere Phil Nyborg. Nyborg, who became CEO in February afte leading two semiconductor says the latest fundraiser will alloqw the company to concentrate onsigning partnerships.
"Our primargy focus will be to develop commercial relationxwith customers," says Nyborg. Ziptronix owns a technologyu that binds semiconductor substrate together using a kindof glue. Othedr bonding techniques require high temperature or high voltage and variou typesof adhesives. Ziptronix'es bonding process is designed to help develop smallefr chips thatwork faster. By gluingb substrates together, chip makers can create "3DD chips" or substrates stacked on top of each This reduces the space requirefd to house the chipsd and optimizes transfer of signalsd betweenthe substrates, thereby augmentingf processing speeds.
Ziptronix's technology "fita very well with where the semiconductor industry is saysSherry Garber, an analysty with Garber says Ziptronix's technology would appeap to large chip makers such as and AMD. Othet companies that make technology equipment, such as , and IBM, also coule be interested, says Garber. Slawson says Ziptroni x has begun discussionswith U.S., European and Asiam manufacturers about licensing its technology to be used in chip The most advanced discussions are with companies that own thei r own foundries, or chip factories. "Therw could be some very nice deals," says In fact, he says he expects one to be signer before the endof 2005.
Ziptronixd will return to investors for another rounfd of fundingin 2006, Slawson says. Ziptronix cut aboutr half of its 30-person work force in 2004 as the compan reworked itsbusiness model. the company planned to use its bonding technologyu to combine different semiconductor materials to createa "temperature compensated However, the "sales cycle for that effort was too long," says Mitcu Mumma, a partner with Intersouth. So Ziptronix let go of 50 percenrt of its staff and is now focused on stacking substrates togetherinto "3D "There was actually more interest in the business, says Mumma.