Digital signal processing firm Ittiam ropes in Silicon Valley VC chief Lip-Bu Tan as board member

Bangalore-based Ittiam Systems Pvt Ltd, an embedded software and systems design company specialising in digital signal processing systems, has brought in Lip-Bu Tan, chairman of the Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Walden International, to its board. Founded in 2001 by a team of experts from the semiconductor industry, Ittiam is one of the largest pure-play IP companies in India.

The company was started by former chief of Texas Instruments India, Srini Rajam, who is the chairman and CEO of Ittiam. The firm's core competencies include RTL design, multimedia codec, middleware, board design and application software. Ittiam operates through its network of offices and representatives across the world, and has direct presence in the US, France, Japan, China, Taiwan and Singapore – serving customers in each major region.

Ittiam has a global customer base of 300-plus companies. It also claims that the volume of consumer products such as smartphones, tablets, video communication systems and automotive infotainment systems with Ittiam IP embedded inside, crossed 25 million units in 2012.

"Our vision is to deliver compelling solutions to customers who spearhead the growth of media creation, management and consumption," said Rajam. "We are delighted to have Lip-Bu join our board. We will leverage his precious bandwidth to build great partnerships and long-term customer relationships," he added.

Ittiam had raised funding in its first year of operations from Global Technology Ventures (GTV). Interestingly, GTV had previously made a joint investment with Walden International in MindTree Technologies.

Commenting on the development, Lip-Bu Tan said, "Ittiam is a fine example of new-generation product companies who represent the next phase of information technology industry in India."

Lip-Bu set up Walden in 1987, a VC firm which has AUM of $2 billion. He also introduced the US venture capital concept in Asia and contributed to the promotion of early-stage technology investment in the Asia-Pacific region. Earlier, he had worked with Chappell & Co. and EDS Nuclear and ECHO Energy.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)