ACCO Semiconductor, the leader in CMOS RF solutions for smartphones and IoT, announced today the closing of a $35M funding round led by Bpifrance, one of the largest funding commitments to a semiconductor company.
The French-American company whose main R&D center is based in Louveciennes, located in the western suburbs of Paris, is currently accelerating its business into various brands of mobile phones now found in several countries throughout Asia and Europe.
ACCO has developed and patented a Radio Frequency front-end technology for mobile communications devices using standard CMOS (complementary-metal-oxide semiconductor) processing, this technology offers high performances previously considered impossible. Basically, this technology allows connected devices to communicate with each other, in a faster, more effective way. Moreover, the use of CMOS in the RF front-end improves functionality at a reduced size and cost for both smartphones and the Internet of Things.
“Acco brings CMOS in the RF front-end […] Its is a major revolution, not only for mobile phones, but also for connected devices for which the integration, performances and cost are the keys for the market’s development.” – Greg Caltabiano, President & CEO at Acco
Strategy Analytics estimates the mobile power amplifier market at $3.5 billion, representing a significant business opportunity for the company, and the huge growth projections for IoT devices will further expand this market potential.
“With this new round, Acco has now the ressources to take market shares and make obsolete AsGa semiconductors currently used in mobile phones.” – Rich Redelfs, General Partner at Foundation Capital and Managing Director at Acco
This latest round is led by Bpifrance, through its growth fund Large Venture, with participation from investors in both the US and France, including Foundation Capital, Pond Ventures, Partech Ventures, Omnes Capital, Siparex Group and A Plus Finance. The investment is timed to support the launch of ACCO’s newest generation of industry standard RF front-end CMOS solutions and will provide working capital as well as R&D funds for next-generation products while enabling the company to add incremental local support for its increasing customer base.
The investment is timed to support the launch of ACCO’s newest generation of industry standard solutions and will provide working capital as well as R&D funds for next-generation products.
“We are excited to be investors in ACCO whose revolutionary cellular radio component dramatically reduces cost and complexity. We believe ACCO’s highly integrated technology perfectly fits the industry requirements and that this new equity round will enable the company to scale and achieve its commercial goals.” – Nicolas Herschtel, Investement Director at Bpifrance