iamba, an Israeli startup that develops optical communication systems for VOIP and IPTV, was sold to Marvell for $10 million. iamba had received $25 million in four rounds of venture backing from Cedar, Giza and Pitango and it has recently laid off most of its employees in Israel. See coverage of iamba’s latest round in May.
iamba used a technology called GPON which supports higher rates and enhanced security in optical cables. The solution was designed for telecommunication companies providing “Triple Play” services: Phone, Video and Data.
Marvell Israel is the second largest chip manufacturer in Israel, following Intel. The Israeli R&D center has a team of 1,100 and is the company’s largest office out of the US. Marvell will try to make the most out of this acquisition, taking advantage of the quickly growing market. GPON system sales are expected to grow from 2 million chips in 2008 to 5 million in 2009.
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
