Jay Kamdar takes top post at Nazomi
By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 14 April 2004, 19:30 IST
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CALIF: Nazomi Communications Inc., a company that develops chips and software to enhance the performance of software running on the Java platform for cell phones, said co-founder and vice president of marketing and sales Jay Kamdar has become chief executive and president. Kamdar said he was already focused on securing more customers as vice president, and will continue to bring on new customers and design wins as the company aims to be profitable around the end of 2004. Mukesh Patel, the co-founder who had been CEO, will focus on developing new products in the new role as chief technology officer. Messrs. Patel and Kamdar both will continue to server as directors. Before founding Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nazomi, Kamdar was a group marketing manager for Java processor products at Sun Microsystems. The CEO appointment comes after Nazomi abandoned its Series D fundraising efforts last year. "The market conditions were unfavorable from a valuation stand point," said Kamdar. He blamed Nazomi's low valuation on investor pessimism about the market the start-up targeted. Kamdar hopes that with new customers, Nazomi may garner a higher valuation later this year, when it will consider raising new capital. The start-up had aimed to raise $10 million to $15 million in the fourth quarter of 2003. In the meantime, Nazomi plans to support itself with revenue from its application processor for Java and multimedia phones. Sony Ericcson, Sharp, and SK Telecom, a Korean phone manufacturer, have already signed up as customers, and Nazomi expects to double its revenue this year. So far, two million phones with Nazomi chips are on the market. The firm plans to increase the volume of its products "several fold," according to Kamdar. Nazomi is working to develop a high-end version of its processor, a new product that will go into phones outfitted with cameras and games. Customers have already lined up for the product, and the start-up will ship small quantities at the end of this year. Because Nazomi plans to target customers in Asia, the company is opening offices in Korea, China, and Taiwan this year; Nazomi will staff up to 10 employees at those locations. The firm will also open an office in India for back-end chip development and some software development. The size of this engineering team, expected to reach 40 employees by the end of 2004, will exceed Nazomi's 25-person R&D team in Silicon Valley. Nazomi has raised $23 million from Ignite Group, Redwood Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, and Alliance Ventures.

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