Tamir Fishman & Co. Ltd. unit, Tamir Fishman-CIG Venture Fund and the Russian Venture Company have invested $6 million in a Russian joint venture with Israeli solutions developer Mobix Wireless Solutions Ltd., Mobix Chip LLC. Mobix Chip will develop a new ASIC semiconductor chip in Russia for smart metering communication infrastructure.
Mobix, founded in 1994, developed e-commerce solutions, and was acquired by BackWeb Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: BWEB) in 2000. In 2004, Mobix's entrepreneurs founded a new company with the same name to develop smart grid solutions for utilities meters. The company already has initial operations in Russia, which will be the basis for Mobix Chip.
Tamir Fishman-CIG Venture Fund is a joint fund of Tamir Fishman & Co. and Russian investment fund MDC. It manages $70 million for investment in Russian technology companies.
Tamir Fishman-CIG managing director Daniel Gimpel said, "Mobix Wireless Solutions in Israel, is a systems company, and this new investment will establish Mobix Chip as a fabless semiconductor company in Russia based on MWS n-DNet technology. The international market is now extremely hot for smart meter infrastructure technologies due to new regulations for management of electric grid balancing, and gas/water efficiency management."
Mobix chairman and CEO Shai Hemli said, "With this investment from the Tamir Fishman-CIG VC Fund and Russia Venture Corporation, Mobix is partnering with top Russian financial resources to develop this joint venture and integrate the best engineering talent in Russia. We intend to leverage our technology expertise and international sales experience to make this Russian joint venture a leading international success."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 11, 2011
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011