El Segundo Maker Of Semiconductors Raises $22.5 Million

By CHRISTOPHER KEOUGH

Staff Reporter

A wireless communications company spun off from Raytheon Co. has raised $22.5 million, demonstrating that substantial pots of venture capital are available for certain types of projects.

TelASIC Communication, which emerged from Raytheon’s Advanced Products Group with the help of Florida-based MILCOM Technologies Inc., will design semiconductors for wireless equipment manufacturers.

The initial round of funding, which will come from ComVentures of Palo Alto, Mission Ventures of San Diego and Redpoint Ventures, is the largest in some time. No company in Los Angeles County raised more than $20 million in the fourth quarter of 2001.

Chief Executive Tony Giraudo said the company would design semiconductors that are put on silicon germanium chips produced by IBM, which in turn gets an equity stake in the company. Raytheon also has retained an equity stake. Potential customers include wireless equipment makers such as Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola.

TelASIC has had discussions with those manufacturers about their technological needs, and Giraudo said it had assisted in securing the venture capital.

Giraudo said he was surprised to learn the funding the company received was more successful than any others in the previous quarter. “Quite frankly, there’s a lot of substance to this deal,” he said. “Raytheon has made investments in this area for the last two decades.”