Cadence to invest in Israeli startups

Cadence Design Systems, the world's premier supplier of solutions for the automatic planning of electronic and integrated circuits, is looking at investments in Israeli technology.

The company's senior VP, Lavi Lev, who also heads the company's IC solutions department, will be visiting Israel next week to locate opportunities. Lev, a graduate of the Technion University of Haifa, is expected to meet with representatives of venture capital funds and startups, as well as with the company's customers in Israel.

Cadence Israel's chief executive, Gideon Kedem, commented that the company has developed an integrated model of selling software solutions and complementary services for chip development, with investment in privately-held firms.

Israel's startup community has special needs, Kedem added. Cadence can offer to swap them solutions in exchange for shares.

The company is in advanced talks with one Israeli technology company, Kedem said, which could mature into a deal by the end of this quarter.

Cadence, which competes with Israel's Verisity (TASE, Nasdaq:VRST), is traded on Wall Street at a market cap of $2.5 billion. The company has 5,400 employees around the world and posted sales of $690 million for the first half of 2002.

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints