Silicon Catalyst Expands Activities to Israel

Incubator for Semiconductor startups expands to key region for innovation

Santa Clara, California and Tel Aviv, Israel, September 3, 2019 - Santa Clara, California and Tel Aviv, Israel, September 3, 2019- Silicon Catalyst, the world's only incubator focused exclusively on accelerating solutions in silicon, today announced the appointment of Israel-based semiconductor executives Danny Biran and Moshe Zalcberg to its advisory team to support semiconductor startups in the country.

Silicon Catalyst uniquely provides startups with goods and services from a comprehensive network of In-Kind Partners (IKPs) to dramatically reduce the cost of chip development. Over the past four years, Silicon Catalyst has reviewed close to 300 early-stage companies and has now admitted a total of 21 startups into the incubator. These Portfolio Companies utilize In-Kind Partner (IKP) goods and services including design tools, simulation software, design services, foundry PDK access and TSMC CyberShuttle® runs, test program development and tester access. Companies accepted into the incubator have 2 years of no-cost or significantly discounted access to these IKP goods and services during the incubation period. Additionally, the startups can tap into the world-class Silicon Catalyst network of Advisors and investors. The new Israel-based advisors bring extensive semiconductor industry experience and business success to local entrepreneurs and early stage companies.

Danny Biran

Previously a Senior Vice President of Altera Corporation until its acquisition by Intel in 2016 and before that held senior leadership positions at Silverback Systems, LSI Logic and National Semiconductor. In addition, he served as VP, International Division of the Israel Innovation Authority and as a member of the board of directors of the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA).

Moshe Zalcberg

With more than 20 years of experience in the semiconductor and design automation industries, Moshe is currently CEO of Veriest Solutions, a leading design engineering services company. He has previously served as General Manager Israel and world-wide VP of Business Development with Presto Engineering. Moshe also spent over 12 years at Cadence Design Systems, in roles that included General Manager, Israel and Head of European Professional Services.

Israel is a hotbed of innovation and has an impressive track record of creating successful semiconductor start-ups. It is only natural that as Silicon Catalyst expands internationally we want to focus on Israel," stated Pete Rodriguez, CEO of Silicon Catalyst. "We believe that the value Silicon Catalyst and its partners offer to startups, along with the local support by Danny and Moshe, will help more entrepreneurs overcome the challenges of getting early funding for semiconductor companies."

“As Israel excels in semiconductors, I am happy to see Silicon Catalyst's activities expanding to Israel, helping startups reach the prototype stage earlier. Partnerships with foundries and design tool vendors are crucial to such startups, and any activity that enables better access to these elements is blessed,” said Dov Moran, Manager Partner at Grove Ventures. “I hope Silicon Catalyst will help us see in the coming years more and more start-ups in this area, striving to create additional success stories like Mobileye, Mellanox and M-Systems.”

About Silicon Catalyst

It’s About What’s Next® - Silicon Catalyst is the world’s only incubator focused exclusively on accelerating solutions in silicon (including IP, MEMS & sensors), building a coalition of in-kind and strategic partners to dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of development. More than 400 start-up companies have engaged with Silicon Catalyst since April 2015, with a total of 38 start-up and early-stage companies admitted to the incubator. With a world-class network of mentors to advise start-ups, Silicon Catalyst is helping new semiconductor companies address the challenges in moving from idea to realization. The incubator/accelerator supplies start-ups with a path to design tools, silicon devices, networking, access to funding, banking and marketing acumen to successfully launch and grow their companies’ novel technology solutions. The Silicon Catalyst Angels was established in July 2019 as a separate organization to provide access to seed and Series A funding for Silicon Catalyst portfolio companies.

More information is available at www.siliconcatalyst.com www.siliconcatalyst.uk www.siliconcatalystangels.com

Media Contacts

Richard Curtin richard@sicatalyst.com
Danny Biran danny@sicatalyst.com
Moshe Zalcberg moshe@sicatalyst.com

Silicon Catalyst and the Silicon Catalyst logo are registered trademarks of Silicon Catalyst. All other brand and product names appearing in this document are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders.