Jul.02, 2012 | 4:33 PM

DesignArt in talks

Over the past two years, microchip makers have produced the biggest exits for Israeli high-tech. Companies such as Wintegra, CopperGate, BroadLight, Provigent and Anobit each were sold for hundreds of millions of dollars to multinationals like PMC-Sierra, Broadcom and Apple. It now appears that DesignArt, which develops system-on-chip platforms and trial-ready software solutions for 3G and 4G smartphones, will be joining the list.

DesignArt, established in 2006, is in advanced talks for acquisition by Qualcomm. According to statistics provided by IVC-Online, DesignArt employs 50 people and registered $6 million sales in 2011. IVC expects the Tel Aviv-based firm to double its sales, to $12 million, in the current year.

The potential buyer is Qualcomm, a California-headquartered leader in 3G and wireless-chip technology currently valued at about $95 billion. Qualcomm, which has a development center in Haifa, in 2010 acquired iSkoot, an Israeli start-up. iSkoot developed a platform that allowed cellular providers to offer VoIP, e-mail and instant messaging services to their end-users. It paid between $60 million and $80 million for the company, according to venture capital sources.

DensBits has flashy prospects

DensBits has attracted worldwide attention in recent months. The Haifa-based flash-memory start-up, which competes with Anobit, was one of the Israeli companies high-ranking Apple officials met with earlier this year before the computer giant’s $390 million acquisition of Anobit. This week DensBits made news of its own, announcing a strategic agreement with SeaGate Technology, the hard-disk maker. Controller programs by DensBits will be integrated into Seagate’s flash drives, the company said.

Israeli flash-drive companies, of which DensBits is one, have also been in the spotlight. Last week Kaminario, a maker of enterprise storage solutions based in Yoqneam near Haifa and Newton, Massachusetts, announced the completion of its $25 million fourth fund-raising round. A month ago XtremIO, which develops flash-based data-storage solutions, was acquired by Massachusetts-based EMC for $450 million – one of the biggest Israeli exits in the last few years.

According to a recent Thompson-Reuters analysis, the XtremIO sale was among the last quarter’s largest merger-and-acquisitions high-tech deals worldwide. Leading the list is the billion-dollar acquisition of social-networking company Instagram by Facebook. In second place, also in the world of social networking, is the acquisition by Microsoft of Yammer for $1.2 billion…Read More>>

Share/Bookmark