Press Release

Editorial contact:

marketing@nanosemi.co.uk

Bristol, England, August 12th, 2008 - Nanotech Semiconductor Limited (“Nanotech”), a fabless IC company specializing in advanced Analog and Mixed-Signal ICs for fiber optic communications, today announced the completion of a $5m funding round.

Existing Venture-Capital investors Pond Venture Partners (London, San Jose, CA), and Atlantic Bridge (London, Dublin), together with CEO and founder, Gary Steele, contributed to the round which brings total investor funding to more than $15m. The funding is targeted towards exciting new opportunities at multi-Gigabit rates to be designed and manufactured in advanced pure-CMOS technologies.

Gary Steele, CEO, commented: “In the last 12 months production has ramped steeply, with 5 million ICs already shipped, and the 10 million marker likely to be breached by year end. We have significant traction in both Plastic Optical Fiber (‘POF’) and Glass Optical Fiber (‘GOF’) markets, and with the best performing products at CMOS prices, we are achieving 40 to 50% market share in some cases. Nevertheless opportunities still abound, especially in the multi-Gigabit space. In many areas, copper links are becoming increasingly restrictive and power-hungry. In other areas, we see cost reductions can be achieved by replacing expensive SiGe-based solutions. We therefore made the case to our investors that we should accelerate our investments in the multi-Gigabit space, and that case was readily accepted”

Richard Irving, Managing Partner of Pond Venture Partners and Board Director at Nanotech added: “Nanotech has a fantastic track-record of transistor-level and architectural innovations in CMOS, and we were very excited to see yet more innovations coming in the 2.5 to 10Gb space. Both existing and up-and-coming markets are ripe for these innovations, and there was no question in our minds they should be exploited as quickly as possible’.

Brian Long, Managing Partner of Atlantic Bridge and Board Director at Nanotech commented: ‘Clearly with the rising cost of energy, innovations offering significantly reduced power consumption are increasingly attractive. As consumer communications links reach multi-gigabit speeds, optical fiber solutions, with low-cost, low power CMOS ICs, offer compelling advantages over traditional copper based links. In the next year to 18 months we expect to see the kind of inflection point with fiber based communications that investors look for.’

About Pond

Pond Venture Partners www.pondventures.com is Europe's largest early-stage technology venture capital fund, founded in 1997 and with more than $200 million under management. Pond operates as a cohesive team based in London and Silicon Valley, with strong connections in Asia.

Pond works closely with its worldwide portfolio companies to help build their technology innovations into successful global businesses – as well as providing introductions to new customers, management resources and quality co-investors. Pond's venture team include acclaimed entrepreneurs, business leaders and technology visionaries, all with an international focus and a focus on partnering with their portfolio companies for success.

Pond is regulated by the FSA.

About Atlantic Bridge

Atlantic Bridge www.abven.com is a Pan European private equity firm with offices in Dublin and London. Atlantic Bridge focuses on making technology investments across Europe with a strong focus on a transatlantic business building and investment exit model.

Atlantic Bridge brings together a unique team of technology entrepreneurs, corporate finance and investment experts with a wealth of international business experience across Europe, US and Asia. We have worked together in various capacities for the last 5-10 years and bring a partnership approach to our team and our investments. Our investors include the founders, institutions and private shareholders with a track record of investment in successful technology companies. The Atlantic Bridge portfolio currently of companies operating in the semiconductor, wireless software and nanotechnology sectors.

Nanotech Semiconductor Ltd., Registered Office: Cornelius House, 178-180 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2DJ
Company Number: 04760596 VAT Number: GB 826 438 612