MILPITAS, CA - June 23, 2011 – Touchstone Semiconductor, Inc., a developer of high-performance analog integrated circuit solutions, today announced that it has received $12 million in Series A funding. Silicon Valley venture capital firms Opus Capital and Khosla Ventures were the primary investors. Touchstone Semiconductor was the only semiconductor company in Silicon Valley to receive Series A funding in the year 2010. The investment is being used for research and development, marketing, and sales for Touchstone’s growing family of high-performance analog integrated circuits.
A group of industry experts from Maxim Integrated Products, Linear Technology and Analog Devices formed Touchstone in 2010 to build a high-performance analog company. Touchstone’s proprietary products offer a unique combination of features and performance that cannot be found elsewhere in the analog market. Touchstone’s second-source products are pin-compatible and specification identical to competitive offerings, providing an ideal alternative for hard-to-secure sole-sourced products.
“We are proud to be the only semiconductor company in the Silicon Valley to receive Series A funding last year. Our investors recognized that the highly fragmented $40 billion analog market offers a tremendous opportunity for sustained growth,†said Brett Fox, president and CEO of Touchstone Semiconductor. “We believe the combination of our extremely talented and committed team, industry expertise and proven business strategy will enable us to build a highly profitable company.â€
“The ability to recruit top-notch analog engineering talent is extremely difficult,†commented Pierre Lamond, general partner at Khosla Ventures. “The Touchstone team has demonstrated its ability to hire an elite group.â€
“The high-performance analog market is the most profitable and capital efficient segment of the semiconductor market. There are very few teams with the capability to successfully enter this market, and Touchstone is one of them,†said Gill Cogan, general partner at Opus Capital.
During the past three months, Touchstone has introduced its first products: the proprietary TS1001 Op Amp, the industry’s only operational amplifier that uses only 0.8V while using 0.6µA of current. Its TSM9117-9120 is a family of second-source comparators for Maxim Integrated Products’ popular MAX9117-MAX9120. At least 20 parts will be announced in its first year of production.
In other news, Touchstone announced that Cathal Phelan, chief technical officer at Cypress Semiconductor Corp. and a 25-year semiconductor industry expert, has joined its board of directors. He joins Fox, Cogan, and Naveed Sherwani, CEO, Open-Silicon.
About Touchstone
Touchstone Semiconductor Inc. (www.touchstonesemi.com) creates high-performance analog IC solutions that solve critical problems for electronics companies. Touchstone's second-source products are pin-compatible, specification identical solutions, offering customers a long-awaited alternative source for hard to get sole-sourced products. Touchstone's proprietary products provide unique combinations of features and performance that cannot be found from any other supplier. Founded in 2010, Touchstone is headquartered in Milpitas, Calif. Find us at Twitter:@touchstonesemi or Facebook: Touchstone Semiconductor.