RED HERRING | Fabless Semi Firm Snares $25M

"Newport Media, a fabless semiconductor firm that makes sophisticated chips for mobile TV receivers, said Thursday it had received $25 million in a second round of financing to continue research and development efforts, among other plans.

The round was led by Oak Investment Partners, and includes prior investors Benchmark Capital, Venrock Associates, Global Catalyst Partners, and Pinnacle Ventures. The round brings the company�s total funding to $36 million.

Mohy Abdelgany, Newport�s president and CEO, said the company still has much of its first round of financing, and that it will also use its venture war chest to ramp up production, sales, and marketing efforts.

Based in Lake Forest, California, Newport Media is one of many companies developing so-called �system-on-a-chip� solutions that support the major mobile TV standards. The aim is to give mobile users a better experience viewing video on the tiny screens typically associated with mobile devices. Such systems have to not only be workable on tiny screens but must also be skimpy on using power as well as cheap to make."