Icera secures $12 million debt facility with Silicon Valley Bank

SANTA CLARA, USA & LONDON & BRISTOL, UK: Icera Inc., the soft modem semiconductor company, has successfully completed a $12 million debt facility with Silicon Valley Bank, the commercial banking division of SVB Financial Group and financial partner to technology companies worldwide.

The combined facility, consisting of a $4 million three-year term loan and a two-year $8.0 million working capital line of credit, will be used to accelerate growth in the smartphone market and extend Icera’s global capabilities.

Founded in 2002 and backed by a top tier European Venture Capital syndicate including Accel Partners, Amadeus Capital Partners, Atlas Venture, Balderton Capital and DFJ Esprit, Icera is the world’s leading company in the design, production and sales of soft modem chipsets that deliver high performance communication engines for cellular products, including smartphones, tablets and USB sticks.

Stan Boland, president and CEO of Icera, said: “We are delighted with the confidence the team at Silicon Valley Bank has demonstrated in our business as we build on our success in data modems and address the much larger and fast growing smartphone market. This facility is a solid foundation for our growth, enabling us to maintain our technological and performance lead with the roll out of our multimode 4G LTE and smartphone platforms in 2011.”

“Icera is one of the most exciting and high profile semiconductor companies we’ve seen in the UK,” said Phil Cox, Head of UK, Europe and Israel for Silicon Valley Bank. “Driven by an exceptionally strong management team, the business is now leading the way in creating and delivering top quality high technology devices. We are delighted to be involved in Icera’s growth story and are confident that the company will go on to shape the industry on a global scale,” he added.

SVB Financial Group has had an office in London since 2004, and Silicon Valley Bank has been providing loans to UK-based technology and life science companies of all stages of their development from business start-up to major companies in the sector. SVB Financial Group UK Ltd. provides access to financial services as well as SVB’s worldwide network of venture capitalists and partners.

SVB Financial Group UK aims to give European technology, life science companies and venture capital investors access to the same targeted financial services as their US-based counterparts, including sources of diverse debt capital such as venture debt, acquisition financing, working capital, capital call lines, growth capital and capex financing. In addition, the UK team offers access to foreign exchanges services, trade finance and US banking for subsidiaries.