Kevin Fielding, the former CEO and president of ParthusCeva joins venture capitalists

Former ParthusCeva exec joins venture capitalists
By Colin Holland, EE Times UK
November 20, 2003 (7:36 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20031120S0011

London, UK — Kevin Fielding, the former CEO and president of ParthusCeva, has joined Alta Berkeley, a European early-stage venture capital provider, as a partner. He has had a 20 year career working for companies in the semiconductor industry, both in Europe and in the US. As well as running ParthusCeva he led several successful high-technology start-up activities, including Parthus Technologies and the StrongARM microprocessor business, acquired by Intel in 1998.

Alta Berkeley focuses on technology companies in communications, semiconductors and information technology. Since its formation in 1982 the firm has backed over 100 companies and has over 40 successful exit transactions to date, completed through either IPO or acquisition.

Bryan Wood, founding partner of Alta Berkeley, said, “Kevin is a key addition to our partnership and exemplifies our approach of building a senior team that has hands-on experience of growing successful technolo gy companies. His international experience is substantial and will be invaluable for our portfolio companies that are looking to expand their business globally.”

Fielding joined Parthus Technologies in June 1998 and together with founder Brian Long, turned the company from a semiconductor design-services provider into one of the fastest growing semiconductor IP companies in the industry. The company completed a successful public listing of its shares in May 2000, with a dual listing on the London Stock Exchange and on Nasdaq. Upon completion of the merger of Parthus and Ceva in November 2002, Fielding became CEO and president of the newly formed company and a member of the ParthusCeva board of directors.

He was involved in founding the StrongARM business in Palo Alto, and working on the Alpha processor in Hudson, MA for Digital Equipment. Before moving to the US in 1989 Fielding worked on high-speed processor design for Philips in Eindhoven and in Dublin. He also spent four years working in the re search labs at the National Microelectronics Research Centre (NMRC) attached to University College, Cork.

Recent investments by Alta Berkeley include Castify Networks, Dune Networks, Medgenics, m-spatial, Native Networks, Polatis, Synad, Xtellus and Frontier Silicon.