Atlas coughs up $13m for Acorn spin-out

Oldest start-up

Element 14, the DSP chip design house set free from Acorn, has secured $13 million in what it calls "first-round" financing. The Cambridge, UK-based company says this is the biggest sum invested in a European silicon start-up. It plans to produce its first DSP chips in Autumn 2000. Element 14's funding was led by Atlas Ventures together with Bessemer Venture Partners. Other VCs include Amadeus Capital Partners (controlled by Acorn co-founder Herman Hauser), TTP Venture Fund, Sofinnova Venture Partners and Nippon Investment & Finance Co Ltd. Element 14 is the bit of Acorn that its management team led by Stan Boland wanted to keep, when the company got dismembered earlier this year. The cult (ish) RiscOS-based PC part is now firmly in the hands of the Acorn fan base. While Acorn's shareholding in ARM now resides in MSDW. ®