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SiGe Semiconductor Inc of Methuen, MA, USA and Ottawa, Canada has raised $20m in an ‘expansion’ Series E round of financing. The firm has now raised a total of $132m in venture capital funding since 1999.

SiGe Semiconductor provides RF front-end solutions including Wi-Fi power amplifiers and front-end modules, GPS receivers and WiMAX transceivers to manufacturers of wireless consumer electronics (e.g. laptop computers, access points, personal navigation devices, personal entertainment devices, and cellular phones). The capital will fund expansion of the firm’s product lines supporting the Wi-Fi, WiMAX and GPS markets.

Samsung Ventures, the US-based venture capital investment arm of Samsung Venture Investment Corp (SVIC), joins as a strategic investor, together with returning investors 3i Venture Capital, Prism VentureWorks, TD Capital Ventures, VenGrowth Private Equity Partners, RWI Ventures and GrowthWorks.

Also, joining SiGe Semiconductor’s board are Samsung Ventures’ managing director Bill Byun and 3i Venture Capital partner Jim McLean (replacing previous 3i's representative Sean Brownlee).

“Our objective with this funding is to expand our customer base to drive an increase in our market share across key segments,” says president and CEO Sohail Khan. “Expanding our footprint in the market will drive profitable growth, and will fuel the development of industry-leading products for emerging wireless applications,” he claims.

SiGe's revenues grew more than 50% in 2006 to $49.4m (from $31.8m in 2005). The firm has shipped more than 160m ICs to customers and partners including Arris Interactive, Askey, Broadcom, Centrality, CSR, DeLorme, Furuno, Garmin, Gemtek, Mitsumi, Nintendo, Samsung, Tecom, Tyco, and USI.

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SiGe grew more than 50% in 2006, driven by WLAN and GPS

Visit: http://www.sige.com