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Y Media lands $3 million from Asian investors

Irvine-based Y Media Corp., a designer of chips for digital cameras and other devices, has received $3.4 million in funding from a group of Asian investors.

Among the backers are Taiwanese fund manager InveStar Capital Inc. and Japan’s SG Corp., whose clients include Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., maker of Panasonic products.

The funding comes at a time when venture capital firms are reluctant to invest in start-up companies amid the downturn in technology. The Asian money is a good fit for Y Media as the company is targeting Japanese and other regional consumer electronics makers with its products.

So far, Y Media has received $15.7 million in venture backing, including funds from TechFund Capital, a unit of TechFarm based in Mountain View, and J.P. Morgan Partners of New York.

Y Media designs chips for digital cameras, computers and wireless phones using the same process used to make computer processors, memory chips and other common semiconductors. The company’s chips also allow users to adjust color, contrast and other picture elements right from their digital cameras.

To capture images, most digital cameras today use charge-coupled devices, which produce high-quality images but are more costly to produce.

“Digital imaging is taking off in crazy ways,” said Ian Olsen, president of two-year-old Y Media.

Y Media has an office in Japan and a deal in place with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to produce its chips.

Company officials say the latest funding will be used for product development and daily operations. Y Media hopes digital camera makers will have products using its chips on the shelves by the end of this year, according to spokeswoman Jane Torre. Rivals include units of Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp., Foveon Inc., an offshoot of National Semiconductor Corp., as well as Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems Inc.

Y Media counts 47 workers in Irvine and is looking to hire about 10 more by year’s end. Last year, the company moved its offices from Laguna Hills to a 17,000-square-foot office in Irvine’s University Research Park. n

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