Venture fund VTB Capital invests in computer memory developer Avalanche
MOSCOW. Aug 6. (Interfax) - Venture fund DFJ VTB Capital Aurora has invested in Avalanche Technology (AT), which is developing a new type of computer memory called Spin Programmable Memory (SPMEM).
AT raised $30 million during the fourth round of equity funding, VTB Capital and AT said in a joint statement.
The largest investor was venture fund DFJ VTB Capital Aurora. Global Head of Venture Capital at VTB Capital Aidar Kaliev is a member of AT's board of directors. DFJ VTB's exact stake in AT's capital is not known.
Among other investors are the funds Sequoia Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Vulcan Capital, Thomvest Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures.
During the three previous rounds, AT raised $30.5 million.
"This round of funding will enable Avalanche to deliver in production this extremely highly sought after memory technology," AT's founder and CEO Petro Estakhri is quoted as saying in the press release.
"Avalanche's SPMEM technology essentially solves many of the challenges other
existing memory technologies such as DRAM, SRAM, Flash, NOR and Field MRAM memories face today including lack of scalability, high leakage, low endurance/wear-out as well as larger cell sizes and high power consumption," the press release noted.
"We are moving quickly toward delivering this groundbreaking patented technology
ideally suited for high volume applications across a number of computing platforms to key
customers we are currently working with." Estakhri added.
DFJ VTB Capital Aurora is part of the DFJ VTB Aurora group of funds, which is a member of the DFJ Global Network. The group's funds invest in companies in the early stages that develop their own technology in such areas as innovative materials, nanoelectronics, cloud computing, IT and Internet.
VTB and OJSC Rusnano created DFJ VTB Aurora, investing $50 million each in the project, at the initiative of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) in 2009. DFJ VTB Aurora's managing partners are VTB Capital and DFJ.
