Fulcrum Microsystems Raises $20 Million to Expand the Market for its Innovative Interconnect Semiconductors

CALABASAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2005--Fulcrum Microsystems today announced it has raised $20 million in a Series C round of venture capital financing. The semiconductor company will use the funds to expand its product offering and marketing initiatives for its standards-based interconnect chip products, which are at the heart of performance-optimized enterprise computing, storage and communications platforms.

New investor Granite Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture firm, led the financing round. All of the company's existing investors (Infinity Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Palomar Ventures and Worldview Technology Partners) also participated.

"The success of our award-winning PivotPoint product family has demonstrated the significant market potential for our innovative interconnect technology; this investment will accelerate our plans to expand this technology into new markets," said Bob Nunn, Fulcrum president and CEO. "We appreciate the continued support of our existing venture partners and welcome the enthusiasm and ideas of our new investor."

"The Fulcrum team has proven their ability to deliver commercial devices that are differentiated by the virtues of their unique clockless technology," said Sam Kingsland, managing director of Granite Ventures. "We're looking forward to working with the company as it leverages its technology to capitalize on exciting new opportunities in the data center."

Fulcrum pioneered the concept of low-latency component interconnection with its PivotPoint family of devices. These chips allow networking systems designers to build more responsive, more flexible and higher performing systems by improving the data flow architecture through efficient low-latency switching, offering any-to-any device connectivity. With this investment, the company will develop devices that extend this concept to emerging computing, storage, and communications platforms that need high-performance and low-latency interconnects that are based on ubiquitous industry standards.

All of Fulcrum's products leverage its unique clockless semiconductor design methodology. Fulcrum's technology removes the central clock as the coordinator of data movement through the chip, resulting in chips that consume significantly less power, integrate increased functionality more easily, and reduce semiconductor design times, all while achieving Gigahertz performance in standard commodity manufacturing processes.

About Fulcrum Microsystems

Founded in 2000, Fulcrum Microsystems Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company. The company pioneered the market for low-latency component interconnects, and is focused on leveraging its innovative clockless semiconductor design technology to field a complete line of standards-based interconnect devices for performance- and latency-critical applications. More information can be found at www.fulcrummicro.com.

About Granite Ventures

Granite Ventures has been helping early-stage technology companies build solid foundations for success since 1992. They focus their investments in the communications and software sectors where their partners have deep domain expertise, broad industry knowledge, and significant investment experience. Granite has managed over $700 million in venture capital and has invested in more than 80 private companies. They partner with promising and successful entrepreneurs to create businesses that have a competitive edge, and help those businesses achieve category leadership. More information can be found at www.granitevc.com.

About Infinity Capital

Infinity Capital is an early stage venture capital firm focused on building the next generation of world-class technology companies. As an entrepreneurial venture capital firm, Infinity focuses on cultivating ingenuity. More information can be found at www.infinityllc.com.

About NEA

New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is a leading venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs create and build major new enterprises that use technology to improve the way we live, work and play. Practicing classic venture capital for over 25 years, NEA focuses on early stage investments, playing an active role in assisting management to build companies of lasting value. With $6 billion under management, NEA's experienced management team has invested in over 500 companies, of which more than 145 have gone public and more than 185 have been acquired. More information can be found at www.nea.com.

About Palomar Ventures

Palomar Ventures was launched by veteran venture capitalists to focus on early stage investments in information technology. The founding principle of Palomar is teamwork; the firm works closely with portfolio companies to assist them in achieving their objectives. The partners at Palomar have contributed their energy, strategic insight, network of corporate relationships, and recruiting skills to assist in building nearly 50 public companies. Palomar Ventures currently has $500 million under management. More information can be found at www.palomarventures.com.

About Worldview Technology Partners

Worldview Technology Partners is a venture capital firm focused on building leading U.S. technology companies and helping them expand into lucrative global markets. With nearly $1.4 billion under management, they specialize their investments in a broad range of information technology markets, including communications, semiconductors, enterprise infrastructure and software. More information can be found at www.worldview.com.