Tela Innovations Closes Additional Round of Financing, Adds Three New Investors That Support Unique Approach to Advanced Chip Design

Tela Innovations, an early-stage technology company developing a design solution to enable continued cost effective scaling of semiconductor manufacturing, today announced it has closed an additional round of financing, adding corporate investors Cadence Design Systems; KT Venture Group, LLC, the investment partner of KLA-Tencor Corporation; and Qualcomm Incorporated to its current set of investors, which includes Intel Capital. The round totaled $5.5 million and will be used to bring to market Tela’s unique approach of using on-grid, straight-line, one-dimensional layout structures to provide a more efficient and reliable way to design and manufacture next generation chips.

Earlier this year, the company, founded by a team of experts in IP design tools and process technology, unveiled its plans to offer a design solution that uses pre-defined physical topologies applicable for use in logic, embedded memory, analog and I/O functions.

“The experience and perspective that our corporate investors bring to Tela is a testament to the potential the industry sees for a new approach to the design and manufacture of advanced chip designs. These are a diverse group of industry leaders who support our technology strategy, and their addition to an already excellent team of investors bolsters our confidence that we are addressing the right set of challenges with a viable approach,” said Scott Becker, CEO of Tela.

“Continued innovation in semiconductor production technology requires the ability to optimize all aspects of integrated circuit design,” said Stefano Concina, general partner at KT Venture Group. “We believe Tela Innovations supports KT Venture Group’s vision by addressing some of the fundamental physical design issues which will enable cost-effective, design rule scaling.”

“Tela Innovations’ unique circuit design approach has the potential to offer significant value in optimizing our designs in advanced technologies,” said Quinn Li, director of ventures for Qualcomm. “Our investment in Tela is consistent with our philosophy of identifying leading technology in specific application areas that complement Qualcomm’s products and technologies.”

“Cadence Design Systems’ strategic partnership with Tela Innovations and their pioneering approach to physical design fits with our strategy to address the key challenges in semiconductor design,” said Richard Brashears, corporate vice president at Cadence. “Our investment in Tela strengthens the collaboration to offer customers an integrated design solution at advanced technology nodes.”

The Tela solution, in development for the past four years, specifically addresses the limitations of current design and lithography approaches that stand in the way of continued scaling of semiconductor processes. As process technologies advance further into the ‘sub wavelength’ era (where process dimensions are shrinking faster than wavelengths), there is an increasing need for changes in design styles to improve manufacturability and reduce costs. Specifically, the industry is moving toward more restrictions on what layout interactions are permitted, and at 32nm and below, using technologies involving double exposure and double patterning as means to address these challenges. This requires design and manufacturing co-optimization which is the basis for Tela’s approach.

About Tela

Tela Innovations is a privately-held company based in Campbell, California that provides solutions addressing the challenge of scaling semiconductor design and manufacturing to advanced process nodes. The company’s solution uses gridded, straight line, one dimensional layout structures to provide a more efficient and reliable way to implement next generation chips. Tela's pre-defined physical topologies are applicable for use in logic, embedded memory, analog and I/O. The solution provides improvements in variability, performance, leakage and area without significant impact on existing design methodologies, equipment sets or process technologies. Tela was founded in 2005 by a team of experts in semiconductor IP, design automation and process technology, and is backed by a number of venture firms and corporate investors, including Intel Capital, Cadence Design Systems, KT Venture Group, LLC, the investment partner of KLA-Tencor Corporation, and Qualcomm Incorporated. For more information on the company visit www.tela-inc.com.

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