The chief executive of Irvine-based chip startup WiSpry Inc. stepped back recently to make way for one of its cofounders.
Russell Garcia left WiSpry to “pursue other opportunities,” a spokeswoman said. Garcia continues to have a board seat as vice chairman.
Jeffrey Hilbert, a founder of WiSpry who’s served as president and operations chief, stepped into the top spot.
“Over the last three years, Jeff has continued to expand his responsibilities, leading many of the company’s day-to-day operations,” Garcia said.
WiSpry’s chips help extend the battery life of cell phones and allow them to have fewer dropped calls.
Garcia is set to “continue to work closely with the company’s management team and board on a variety of operational and strategic issues,” WiSpry said in a statement.
“With the market strategy and product roadmap well validated and key strategic relationships now well established, the next several months are all about execution,” said Paul Conley, a WiSpry director and principal at Washington, D.C.-based Paladin Capital Group, the company’s lead investor. “The board ultimately decided that Russ had advanced into more of a governance and oversight role, allowing Jeff to continue on in the role of executive leader.”
The company has had its chips in production for about a year. It hasn’t disclosed its wireless phone maker customers, but is ramping up production in the coming months.
WiSpry is one of the best-funded local tech startups with some $50 million raised to date.
Module King
Fountain Valley’s Kingston Technology Co. has solidified its reign over the dominant part of the computer memory products market.
Kingston, the largest maker of memory products for computers and consumer electronics, widened its lead last year for what are called memory modules—circuit boards loaded with memory chips.
In 2009, Kingston grew its slice of the memory module market to 40%, according to data from El Segundo-based market researcher iSuppli Corp.
That’s up from 33% in 2008 and 28% in 2007, iSuppli said.
The company’s closest competitor, Taiwan’s A-Data Technology Co., had 7.4% of the market last year.
Northern California’s Smart Modular Technologies Inc. came in third at 7.1%.
Kingston sold nearly $3 billion worth of memory modules in 2009, according to iSuppli.
Part of the gain was due to improving demand for computers from corporations and consumers.
Kingston and others are coming off two-plus years of depressed memory chip prices, which brought down prices and profits on memory modules.
The company reported 2009 sales of $4.1 billion, roughly flat from $4 billion in sales for 2008.
Memory modules make up three-quarters of Kingston’s revenue. Flash memory products—mostly portable drives and cards that go into computers, cell phones and digital cameras—make up the rest.
Privately held Kingston has about 800 workers here. It doesn’t disclose profits.
Chip Funding
Irvine-based chip startup Clariphy Communications Inc. recently landed $24 million in a third round of venture funding.
Clariphy makes chips that run optical networks, which use light waves to transmit data.
The company’s chips let network operators more easily upgrade their systems and move data faster across older networks.
Clariphy is set to use the money to develop and produce three chip products.
“The reason we raised this round is to have the cash to really focus on building out our pro-duct portfolio and our revenue,” Chief Executive Paul Voois said. “We are very focused over the next 18 months on rolling out new products.”
Clariphy’s chips send, receive and decode data. They extend the reach of an optical network by extracting data from a signal that may have changed in transit.
“We are building chips for the fastest, newest networks, at lower cost and power,” Voois said.
All of Clariphy’s existing venture investors took part in the latest funding, including Menlo Park’s Onset Ventures, Atherton-based Pacific General Ventures LLC, Palo Alto’s Norwest Venture Partners and Allegis Capital, also in Palo Alto.
The company had a few other strategic investors that weren’t disclosed.
The financing included investor Oclaro Inc. of San Jose, which makes a small mechanical part of a laser called a diode.
Oclaro, which contributed $7.5 million to the round, is a customer of Clariphy.
In 2004, Clariphy raised roughly $8 million in venture funding and moved its headquarters from Santa Clara to Irvine. It raised a follow-up to its first round, bringing the total to $26 million.
Clariphy raised a second round that wasn’t disclosed a few years ago.
It has some 40 workers here.
Clariphy’s closest competitor is San Jose’s CoreOptics Inc., which recently was acquired by networking kingpin Cisco Systems Inc. for $99 million.
