Altair Semiconductor, a fabless chip company developing mobile WiMAX processor for handsets and handheld devices, closed an $18M Series B funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP). Altair’s ALT2150 mobile WiMAX baseband processor is optimized exclusively for handsets and handheld consumer devices.
Altair said mobile WiMAX presents severe challenges to manufacturers who are integrating this new and evolving standard into handsets. Traditional DSP’s and hard-wired ASICs are handicapped respectively, by excessive battery consumption and inflexibility. Its proprietary ultra-low power, Optimized OFDMA Processor (O2P), which is at the core of its ALT2150 baseband solution, delivers extremely high performance at dramatically lower power consumption — lower than any solution currently on the market or under development, according to the company.
Bessemer is joined in the round by returning investors BRM Capital, Giza Venture Capital and Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), and brings significant wireless industry experience and global strategic relationships to the company.
http://www.altair-semi.com
