SASKATOON, CANADA – June 26, 2006 –Amit Gupta and Trent McConaghy, previous co-founders of Analog Design Automation (which was acquired by Synopsys, Inc. in 2004) today announced formation of a new electronic design automation (EDA) company, Solido Design Automation Inc. The company also announced that it has closed $2.5 million in first round funding from BDC Venture Capital, Investment Saskatchewan and private investors. The funding will allow Solido Design to expand its engineering team and bring to market pioneering transistor-level design enhancement solutions that will address emerging challenges for analog/mixed-signal, custom digital and memory designers.
Serial entrepreneurs Amit Gupta and Trent McConaghy founded Solido Design in 2005 after meeting with numerous companies to pinpoint emerging challenges in transistor-level design not being addressed in the market today. McConaghy, doing research at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, brings extensive experience in analog/mixed signal design and algorithmically complex software development to the company. The company’s patent-pending algorithms will address emerging challenges facing analog/mixed-signal, custom digital and memory designs at smaller geometries.
“New tools and technologies in the analog market segment are essential to meet the ever-increasing demand for complex analog/mixed-signal designs,” said Larry Lam, Director of Technology Seed Investments, BDC Venture Capital. “Solido Design has assembled a strong founding team with the experience required to bring its product suite to market.”
“Smaller chip geometries are forcing more and more digital designers to design at the transistor level of resolution,” said Solido Design’s CEO, Amit Gupta. “Our solutions will offer a new way to meet the urgent need facing not only analog and mixed signal designers, but custom digital and memory designers also. With the support of our investors, we will continue to focus on expanding the development team and bringing products to market.”
BDC Venture Capital is a major venture capital investor in Canada, active at every stage of the company’s development cycle, from seed through expansion, with a focus on technology-based businesses that have high growth potential and are positioned to become dominant players in their markets. BDC Venture Capital has been involved in venture capital since 1975, and has to date invested in more than 400 different companies. It currently manages approximately $550 million in venture capital assets invested in the areas of Life Sciences, Telecommunications, Information Technology, Advanced Technologies and Fund Investments. For more information, see www.bdc.ca.
Investment Saskatchewan Inc. is a designated subsidiary crown corporation under The Crown Corporations Act, 1993 and operates with an independent private-sector Board of Directors. The Corporation presently owns a portfolio of $459 million of investment assets and has an allocation to invest $50 million annually in businesses with operations in Saskatchewan. Its head office is located in Regina, Saskatchewan with a satellite office in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. http://www.investsask.com
Solido Design Automation Inc. is an electronic design automation (EDA) company founded by serial analog design entrepreneurs; the privately held company is headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. For further information, visit www.solidodesign.com or call 306-382-4100.
PR for Solido Design Automation – Cayenne Communication LLC
Michelle Clancy, 252-940-0981, michelle.clancy@cayennecom.com