picoChip closes growth round funding of $27 million

Highland Capital Partners and strategic partners enter as new investors

Bath, England -- June 21, 2007 - picoChip today announced that it has secured $27 million of new investment in fourth round funding.  Highland Capital Partners led the financing round together with undisclosed key strategic investors.  Existing investors include Atlas Venture, Pond Venture Partners, Scottish Equity Partners, Rothschild, Intel and AT&T.  The new money will fund future growth.

This is picoChip’s largest round to date, which reaffirms the company’s leadership in advanced wireless markets with its WiMAX, HSPA and femtocell products.  The round brings total company funding to $70.5 million and delivers a significant boost for picoChip towards extending its success as the only semiconductor company focussed on wireless infrastructure.

“picoChip is very excited about this latest round of funding and we welcome Highland Capital Partners and key strategic investors,” said Guillaume d'Eyssautier, President and CEO of picoChip.  “Over the next year picoChip will continue to grow as the company expands its product portfolio to new wireless technologies including LTE, TD-SCDMA and 4G.  The picoArrayTM is a truly versatile platform and suited to any advanced wireless standard.  The key to success, and a fundamental ethos of the company, is to ensure that picoChip customers have the support network to excel in these new emerging technologies.”

Sean Dalton, Managing General Partner at Highland Capital Partners, commented, “picoChip has clearly demonstrated its industry leadership in WiMAX and femtocell over the last 18 months.  We are excited to be working with a proven management team and a company that has emerged as a leader in two market segments.”

“picoChip has proven technologies in the marketplace and is bringing in significant revenue,” stated Jonathan Brooks, Chairman of picoChip.  “The resolute endorsement and quality of picoChip’s investment backers is testament to the company’s leadership in next-generation wireless.  We look to continue this momentum as we move to the next phase in the company’s growth.”

Founded in 2000, picoChip has developed the world’s highest performance multi-core DSP, and is a supplier of complete femtocell, picocell and macrocell reference designs for WiMAX and HSPA.  picoChip technology is being used by over a hundred manufacturers, including Tier 1s, in both WiMAX and 3G.  The company has been awarded a number of awards for its technology innovation and has been recognized by Red Herring, Tornado Insider, Real Business and Fierce Wireless, among others.  picoChip most recently won the Chip Design, Industry Innovation and Industry Choice Awards at the Best of WiMAX World Awards 2007, taking home 50% of the awards available. 

About Highland Capital Partners

Highland Capital Partners was founded with the mission of helping great people build great companies.  Since its inception in 1988, the firm has taken a sector-focused approach to investing in exceptional information technology, communications and healthcare companies.  With more than $2.6 billion of committed capital, Highland has invested in and worked to create such firms as Altiga Networks, Ask Jeeves, Avid Technology, Be Free, CheckFree, Conor Medsystems, Continental Cable, EXACT Sciences, Lycos, MapQuest, New Oak Communications, Ocular Networks, Odyssey Healthcare, Starent Networks, Sybase, Telica, VistaPrint and WebLine Communications.  For more information, visit Highland's web site at www.hcp.com.