Ittiam Systems today announced that Banc of America Equity Partners-Asia (“BAEP-Asia”), the Private Equity investment arm of Bank of America, U.S.A., has invested USD 6.5 Million in Ittiam. Ittiam had earlier raised the Series A round of USD 5 Million in 2001 from Global Technology Ventures (“GTV”). GTV was co-founded by BAEP-Asia in 1999.

Bank of America is one of the world’s largest financial institutions, serves clients in 150 countries and has relationships with 98% of U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 85% of Global Fortune 500. The Principal Investing Group (“Banc of America Equity Partners – BAEP”) is the private equity investment arm of Bank of America Corporation and has a history of more than 30 years of Private Equity investing. Current portfolio, including commitments, is approx. USD 10.3 billion. The India group primarily focuses on providing development capital to companies in high growth industries.

“This investment reaffirms our continued commitment to invest in high growth companies in India. Ittiam is a company with a difference that we had identified four years back and has tremendous potential to emerge as a global leader in technology innovation and licensing”, said Kayu F. Mehta, Managing Director and Head, Banc of America Equity Partners-Asia. “We have worked very closely with Ittiam over the past two years and look forward to continuing to engage closely to take Ittiam to the next echelon”.

V. G. Siddhartha, Head of GTV added that “nearly four years ago we had put our faith on the bold plans of Ittiam and its leaders. Today a second round investment by BAEP-Asia reaffirms our decision”.

“Investment by Bank of America is a recognition and a responsibility”, said Srini Rajam, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Ittiam Systems. “We plan to leverage the funds to fuel the next phase of growth for the company which will be crucial for our goal to go public”, he added.

Ittiam Systems started in early 2001 with a vision to become a world leader in DSP systems. The company announced profitability early this year and has also emerged as the most preferred DSP IP supplier in the DSP Professionals Survey 2004 conducted by Forward Concepts, U.S.A.

About Ittiam

Ittiam Systems Private Limited, headquartered in Bangalore, is a technology product company singularly focussed on digital signal processing systems in media and communication. The company operates through its network of offices and representatives around the world. Ittiam’s customers include Fortune 100 companies and are distributed across U.S., Europe, Japan and Asia. For more details, visit www.ittiam.com.

For further details, please contact:

Poornima Chikkananjaiah
20 : 20 MEDIA
Tel: +91-80-22998892/3
Email: poornima@2020india.com