August Capital Invests in Conexant

August Capital has invested an undisclosed amount in Conexant Systems Inc. Conexant is a maker of semiconductor technology for imaging, audio, embedded modem, and video surveillance applications. In April, the company was acquired by San Francisco-based private equity firm Golden Gate Capital. Terms of the August Capital investment were not released, though the firm said that August partner Andy Rappaport would serve on the Conexant board.

PRESS RELEASE
Conexant Holdings, Inc., a leading supplier of innovative semiconductor solutions for imaging, audio, embedded modem, and video surveillance applications, today announced that August Capital has made an investment in the Company and will be represented on the board of directors by Andy Rappaport.

August Capital joins Golden Gate Capital as investors in the Company.

Andy Rappaport has been a partner at August Capital since 1996. For three decades, he has been an authority on the evolution of the semiconductor industry and has been involved in the formation and growth of scores of semiconductor companies, including Actel, Atheros Communications, Cirrus Logic, MMC Networks, Silicon Architects, Silicon Image, Transmeta, and Viewlogic Systems. He currently serves on the boards of other leading technology companies including: Alta Devices, Atheros Communications, Luxtera, Magnum Semiconductor, Scintera, Suvolta, Ubicom, and Unity Semiconductor.

“I am pleased to announce August Capital’s investment in Conexant,” said Sailesh Chittipeddi, Ph.D., president and CEO of Conexant. “Having both a top-tier venture capital firm and a top-tier private equity firm as our investors is a huge endorsement of Conexant’s market-leading positions and growth potential.”

“My partners and I are thrilled to be able to partner with Golden Gate Capital and the management of Conexant in the strengthening and growth of such a storied semiconductor company,” said Mr. Rappaport. “Conexant’s extensive portfolio of products and technologies are well-suited to a wide range of important mature and emerging semiconductor markets, and there are very few companies in the industry that have the opportunity to build into these markets from such a powerful franchise and with such a strong team.”

“We are excited to be aligned with such a complementary capital partner as we endeavor to grow Conexant across a variety of new markets,” said John Knoll, managing director of Golden Gate Capital.

About Conexant
Conexant’s portfolio of innovative semiconductor solutions includes products for imaging, audio, embedded modem, and video surveillance applications. Conexant is a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif. To learn more, please visit www.conexant.com.

About Golden Gate Capital
Golden Gate Capital is a San Francisco-based private investment firm with approximately $9 billion of capital under its management. The firm’s charter is to partner with world-class management teams to make equity investments in situations where there is a demonstrable opportunity to significantly enhance a company’s value. The principals of Golden Gate have a long and successful history of investing with management partners across a wide range of industries and transaction types, including going-privates, corporate divestitures, leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations. For additional information, visit www.goldengatecap.com.

About August Capital
August Capital was founded in 1995 to invest in companies differentiated by technical innovation and entrepreneurial excellence. To date, the August Capital funds total $2.0 billion. August Capital’s partners have more than a century of combined venture experience and together have invested in more than 80 companies across the technology spectrum. These companies represent an aggregate market capitalization of well over $250 billion and generate in excess of $75 billion in annual revenue. The partners at August Capital were the earliest investors in a number of ground breaking technology companies including Microsoft, Intuit, Seagate, Silicon Image, Sun Microsystems, Skype, Compaq, Symantec, Sybase, Atheros, Postini, Cobalt, shopping.com, PayCycle, Grand Junction and many more. August Capital is located in Menlo Park, California. For more information, please visit: www.augustcap.com.