Ambient Sound Investments Exits Modesat In Acquisition By Xilinx

Estonian wireless modem tecnhology firm Modesat Communications has been acquired by Xilinx, a San Diego-based supplier of programmable logic devices. Modesat has previously been invested in by Ambient Sound Investments and The Estonian Development Fund. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

This news is a little more technical than we usually like to cover at ArcticStartup, but is interesting as it’s Ambient Sound Investments (ASI) first exit since being founded in 2006 by the four founding engineers at Skype.

Edit: ASI has had two smaller exits last year with Versita and LogneX. The initial press release incorrectly highlighted this news as ASI’s first exit, but it’s my mistake for not doing more background research. Modesat was ASI’s first investment.

ASI has invested in a few companies in the region we’ve covered, such as Blaast and Senseg, but could be perhaps seen as more of an angel group or “family trust” than an venture firm, as the founders are investing their own money after leaving the company after eBay’s acquisition of Skype. Due to this, they are more flexible with their investments and are not required to exit within a certain schedule.

Xilinx has announced it has plans to continue operations in Estonia, where Modesat has 10 employees.

“Modesat’s unique patented technology enables the creation of more powerful and cheaper modems. Such modems are used in telecommunication infrastructures for wireless communication, where the demand is constantly growing. Modesat is proof that the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region has internationally competitive and attractive companies,” said Margus Uudam, Head of Venture CapitalInvestments at ASI in a press release.

“Modesat reflects our investment focus – we look for strong engineer and business teams together with unique technologies and international ambition.”