March 7, 2003

Woodside Fund and Bessemer Venture Partners Lead Series A Funding of Berkeley Design Automation, Inc.

Woodside Fund Managing Director Daniel H. Ahn and Bessemer Venture Partners General Partner Rob S. Chandra join the company’s Board of Directors

Redwood Shores, Calif. – March 7, 2003 – Berkeley Design Automation Inc. (BDA), a developer of electronic design automation tools for analog and mixed-signal design, today announced it has secured $11 million in Series-A funding. Woodside Fund led the round with Bessemer Venture Partners joining in as co-lead.

In conjunction with the investment, Woodside Fund Managing Director Daniel H. Ahn and Bessemer Venture Partners General Partner Rob Chandra joined the BDA Board of Directors.

Mr. Ahn is a successful entrepreneur in the semiconductor-manufacturing sector and brings extensive experience in the areas of semiconductor finance to BDA.

“We are very excited about working with an exceptionally talented founding team at BDA. We have evaluated several opportunities in the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) space before concluding that the combination of breakthrough technology, a world-class team, and a large market opportunity made BDA a compelling investment” Mr. Ahn said.

Mr. Chandra leads Bessemer’s West Coast communications practice and has an impressive track record of investing in successful semiconductor companies in the area of Analog, Radio Frequency and Mixed-Signal designs.

“We’ve begun introducing BDA’s products to potential customers,” Mr. Chandra said. “There is great interest in BDA’s breakthrough technology, as it addresses some of the largest pain points within the analog design process.”

Amit Narayan, Founder and CEO of Palo Alto, Calif.-based BDA, holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley CAD group and knows how to bring cutting-edge electronic design automation technologies to production.

“We’re extremely pleased that Woodside Fund and Bessemer Venture Partners have concluded that our business plan is sound, and have partnered with us to transform an idea into a growing company”, Mr. Narayan said. “I am particularly delighted that Dan and Rob have joined our board of directors. Their deep domain expertise and vision will help us build a great product and a great company.”

About Berkeley Design Automation Inc.
Berkeley Design Automation Inc is developing electronic design automation tools for analog, radio frequency and mixed-signal microprocessor designs. The target market for such tools was $400 million in 2001, with a 35 percent compound annual growth rate projected over five years, according to research firm Gartner Inc. Several large analog chip firms already have validated the need for BDA’s technology. The founders have many years of experience in electronic automation design and have developed technology in companies like AT&T, Lucent, Agere Systems, Mentor Graphics, Cadence Design Systems Inc. and Monterey Design Systems. For more information, go to www.berkeley-da.com.

About Woodside Fund
Woodside Fund is a leading venture capital firm that excels in developing seed- and early-stage technology companies. Founded in 1983, the Fund attributes its long record of success to the high value it places on building productive partnerships with entrepreneurs, investors and other service providers. Typically a lead investor, Woodside Fund invests from $5 million to $15 million in early-stage companies focused on enterprise software and network infrastructure located in Northern California and the West Coast. Woodside Fund has five funds and actively manages more than $300 million in investments. For more information, visit www.woodsidefund.com.

About Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners, with offices in Calif., Mass. and New York, is the leading national, early-stage venture capital firm in technology and Internet infrastructure. The firm manages more than a billion dollars of venture funds, carrying on a tradition of hands-on, active venture investing that has continued since 1911. Many leading-edge companies, including Cascade, Ciena, Flarion, OMM, Parametric, QED, Sirocco, Sonus Networks and VeriSign selected BVP as their early-stage venture partner. For more information, visit www.bvp.com.

Berkeley Design Automation Inc contact:

Amit Narayan, Ph.D.
Berkeley Design Automation, Inc
2902 Stender Way,
Santa Clara, CA 95054
T: 408-496-6600
E: amit.narayan@berkeley-da.com
www.berkeley-da.com

 

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