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Motorola Ventures Invests in
DiBcom
BASINGSTOKE, UK -- 19 January 2004
– Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announced the company made a strategic
minority investment in DiBcom, a fabless semiconductor company specialized in
chipsets for the reception of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) in portable
and mobile environments. The investment was part of a total third round of
financing raising 10.7 million euros by Motorola Ventures, Convergent
Technologies, Crédit Lyonnais Private Equity, Infineon Ventures,
Société Générale Asset Management and Vertex Venture
Capital - Israel.
Founded in June 2000 and
headquartered in France, DiBcom is a fabless semiconductor company that designs,
manufactures and markets integrated circuits dedicated to the reception of
Digital Terrestrial Television in portable and mobile environments.
DiBcom’s technology, which can be incorporated into any kind of terminal
or end-user device, allows for the reception of a large number of TV programs,
in digital quality and in all types of mobile conditions, such as a car, a
laptop, a TV set without connection to a rooftop antenna, and soon a cell
phone.
Digital Terrestrial TV is being launched
in almost all European and many Asian countries throughout 2002 and 2004. This
digital technology is extremely scalable and makes possible the fast and cheap
deployment of a large number of channels (30 to 50) that were previously
confined to cable and satellite networks. Most of these channels are offered on
a subscription-free basis by the operators. Concurrently, thanks to a recent
evolution in the DTT broadcasting standard, the DVB-H, DiBcom positions itself
as the leader in digital television reception circuits for mobile phones.
"Motorola is excited about opportunities from
the convergence of digital terrestrial TV and mobile networks, and we are
pleased to have this opportunity to invest in DiBcom which has key technology at
the heart of this revolution," said John O'Donohue, Managing Director of
Motorola Ventures, Europe, Middle East and Africa. "This investment is a part
of Motorola Ventures strategy of investing in next generation technologies in
wireless, broadband, digital enhanced solutions and software. It is third
investment in Europe in the last quarter, but the first investment for Motorola
Ventures in France."
"Today, DiBcom reaches a
new stage in its development. We have the best component on the market and this
opens the door to a wide range of new applications. One of the few services
which has not yet made its way into the world of mobility in a broad sense is
television. The arrival of digital TV offers a disrupting potential in this
respect. And with this new investment round, we are in the position to seize all
opportunities that this market will generate in the next two years", says
Yannick Lévy, President of
DiBcom.
About
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) is a global
leader in wireless, automotive and broadband communications. Sales in 2002 were
$27.3 billion. Motorola is a global corporate citizen dedicated to ethical
business practices and pioneering important technologies that make things
smarter and life better, honoured traditions that began when the company was
founded 75 years ago. For more information, visit
www.motorola.com
Motorola Ventures (MV) is the
global, strategic venture capital investment arm of Motorola, Inc. MV invests
at all stages in developing companies of strategic value to Motorola in order to
accelerate access to new technologies, new markets and new talent. For more
information, visit www.motorola.com/ventures.
About
DiBcom
DiBcom was created in June 2000 by
Yannick Lévy, Chairman and Managing Director; Khaled Maalej, Technical
Director; Amaury Demol, Circuits Architecture Manager, and Emmanuel Hamman,
Systems and Mobility Department Manager. With a team of 21 people, DiBcom based
its headquarters in Palaiseau, France. The activity of the company is the
design, the production and sale of integrated circuits offering perfect
reception of digital terrestrial television in mobile and portable environment.
These circuits can be integrated in several applications (Set Top Boxes,
Integrated Digital Televisions, PC and Laptops, Automobiles, PDAs and
Smartphones).
# #
#
Media
Contact:
Patrick
Hamilton
Motorola
+44
(0)1 256 790481
patrick.hamilton@motorola.com
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