RF power transistor developer Nitronex has announced a closing of $21.8 million in venture funding led by Silicon Valley-based Alloy Ventures. Other new investors in this round included Intersouth Partners, ARCH Venture Partners, and Diamondhead Ventures. Returning investors included VantagePoint Venture Partners and Contender Capital.

Founded in 1999, Nitronex recently introduced a family of RF power transistors, based on its unique SIGANTIC (GaN on silicon) technology, for the WiMAX market. The SIGANTIC platform technology combines the high power, high frequency, high operating voltage and broad bandwidth performance of gallium nitride (GaN) with the scalability of silicon.

"Nitronex has been at the forefront of these markets since its creation in 1999," said John Shoch, Alloy general partner. "Its leaders have spent the last several years developing the technology, consistently believing in the future of the company. Their recent product introduction combined with strong market conditions and real customer demand strongly position Nitronex for success."

"I have watched Nitronex closely over the years as it evolved from a company with a somewhat nascent idea to a manufacturer selling products that address real customer needs," said Kip Frey, partner, Intersouth Partners. "We look forward to playing a role in the next phase of the company's future."

The company plans to use this capital to complete the development and expand manufacturing of several new products; accelerate hiring in operations, engineering, sales and marketing and finance; expand into new global markets; and take advantage of emerging opportunities in cellular, WiMax, broadband and more.

"We believe that our GaN on silicon based products offer significant advantages over existing LDMOS and GaAs solutions for the WiMax, cellular, and broadband wireless markets," said Charles Shalvoy, Nitronex CEO. "With our new financing, we plan to accelerate our efforts to introduce a broad family of innovative RF power transistor products for these markets."

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