Venture capital funds Gemini and Kardan Technologies have each invested $2.35 million in start-up company Saifun Semiconductors, which engages in the development of technology for the manufacture of semi-conductors. Private concerns also took part in Saifun’s private placement, and the total raised was $5 million, at a company value of $45 million, after the money. Each of the funds holds, post-issuance, 5.5% of the company’s shares.
Saifun was founded in 1997 by Dr. Boaz Eitan, who now holds a 60% stake. Another shareholder is Tower Semiconductors, with a 10% stake. Saifun’s employees hold 15% of the company’s shares, while a group of South African investors, which invested $300,000 in the company, holds 0.7% of the shares.
Saifun, located in the Netanya industrial zone, has developed NVM (non-volatile memory) semi-conductor technologies. These memories are currently used mainly in mobile instruments such as cellular telephones or lap-top computers, and also in applications in which the memory must be preserved without a voltage source.
Saifun expect to bite off a substantial share of the NVM market, constituting 10% of the total semi-conductors industry, and estimated at $15 billion.
Published by Israel's Business Arena May 25, 1998