StarGen Pockets Another $1.3MStarGen Pockets Another $1.3M

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. -- StarGen, a semiconductor company that supplies advanced serial switched interconnect solutions and is recognized as an innovation leader in its market, today announced that it received an additional $1.3 million from new investors - Ironside Ventures and CommVest -- to round out its Series C, third round venture funding.

StarGen, founded in 1999, is currently working on its second generation product development which is focused on the emerging interconnect standards of PCI Express(tm) and Advanced Switching (AS). It has established a market leading position with its proven first generation switched serial interconnect technology, StarFabric.

Earlier Series C participants include Morgenthaler Ventures, St. Paul Venture Capital, Commonwealth Capital Ventures, and The Boston University Community Technology Fund, who have collectively provided $15 million in the round.

In July 1999, StarGen received $6 million in seed round funding, and in July 2000, it received $20 million in Series B funding.

"As a result of our careful monitoring of the interconnect market, we targeted StarGen as a good opportunity for us, most notably because of the company's leadership position in the emerging converged interconnect landscape," said Tony Abate, general partner of Ironside Ventures. "The company's continued growth, focus, customer wins and technical capabilities cemented our desire to be a part of this team."

StarGen began full-volume shipments of its flagship products -- the SG1010 StarFabric Switch and the SG2010 PCI-to-StarFabric Bridge - in 2002. More than 50 companies have designed products based on StarGen's technology, and to date, have collectively shipped tens of thousands of StarFabric ports. In March 2003, StarGen began initial shipments of the SG3010 TDM-to-StarFabric Bridge, which addresses the interconnect requirements of access communications equipment engineers who design voice, data, and video systems.

The company's third round funding will facilitate StarGen's development of its new StarXpress product line of bridges and switches based on the emerging PCI Express and AS industry standards. StarGen's architects, working in conjunction with Intel and others, have helped lead the development of the AS specification over the last year. This new portfolio, slated for delivery in 2005, includes StarXpress switches and StarXpress bridges which provide high bandwidth, serial switched interconnect solutions for next-generation storage, server, communication, and embedded system designs.

"The addition of Ironside and CommVest to our investment family is a strong validation of our strategy, technology and market potential," said Tracy Richardson, president and co-founder of StarGen. "We believe that this funding will help us achieve our long-term goals in the industry."

StarGen Inc.