Inovys Secures $16.3 Million in Financing

By George Walsh, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

Series C Funding Will be Used to Expand Marketing and Sales for Semiconductor Test Company

Inovys Corporation, a company that provides hardware and software systems that test the functionality of electronic semiconductors ("silicon chips") used in personal computing, media processing, networking, data storage, graphics, and wireless communications, has just received its third round of funding, bringing the company's overall funding to a total of $38.8 million. The company's primary product is the Inovys Ocelot tester for production environments, which is significantly smaller than traditional test systems, yet the company says it can complete chip testing in a fraction of the time required by traditional methods.

Storm Ventures, a leading venture capital firm, led the current financing. The round included participation from existing investors CMEA Ventures, Palomar Ventures, TechFarm, and Synopsys, Inc. Also participating in the round were new investors HIG Ventures, Hotung Ventures, and Revolution Ventures LLC. Alex Mendez and Ryan Floyd, general partners at Storm Ventures will join Inovys' board of directors.

"The purpose of the funding is that we've finished the development of the product and the next step is to build up a national and international team of representatives that need to get the word out about our product," says Paul Sakamoto, CEO of Inovys. While the company's products are decidedly high-tech, Sakamoto describes what they do in layman's terms quite well. "After the silicon wafers [a small thin circular slice of a semiconducting material on which an integrated circuit can be formed] for chips are designed and produced, they need to be tested and not all of the parts of the wafers are fully functional by the nature of the manufacturing process. After the first wafers come out of the fabrication plant, our products can be used to verify the functionality of the part and design. When companies decide that they want to make the part, the production version of our machine has the capability to test thousands or millions of the finished chips."

Inovys doesn't do the testing itself, but sells the machines and software necessary to verify that the parts will work. "We provide the tools that allow service providers and semiconductor manufacturers to test these devices," Sakamoto says. While Inovys doesn't disclose the names of its customers, it supplies its products to three out of the top ten semiconductor manufacturers.

Inovys' leadership in its field has not only been recognized by financiers. The company also won the 2003 Best in Test award from the editors of Test & Measurement World magazine. Inovys is headquartered in Hacienda at 5870 Stoneridge Drive, with 44 people working here and additional R&D facilities in Austin, Texas. The company also has worldwide partnerships and representatives. Inovys has been in business since July of 1999.

Photo: Paul Sakamoto, Inovys CEO, is spreading the word about their products.

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