Mentor Graphics Acquires Calypto Design Systems!

[Daniel Nenni]

As I mentioned in my previous blog:

Rarely does a month go by without acquisitions in the fabless semiconductor ecosystem. Not surprisingly one of the most read pages on SemiWiki is the EDA Merger and Acquisitions Wiki with more than fifty seven thousand views. It really is a nice family tree, one which we (Daniel Payne) are diligent on keeping current.

EDA Mergers and Acquisitions Wiki - SemiWiki.com

Calypto is the latest addition to our EDA M&A Wiki. We have written 35 blogs about Calypto over the last three years that generated more than 100k views. You can see their landing page HERE.

Calypto Design Systems leads the industry in technologies for ESL hardware design and RTL power optimization. These technologies empower designers to create high quality and low power electronic systems for today’s most innovative electronic products.




WILSONVILLE, Ore., Sept. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq: MENT) today announced that it has acquired its majority-owned subsidiary, Calypto Design Systems, Inc. Calypto will be merged into Mentor as a standalone business unit, an organizational decision demonstrating Mentor's commitment to the future potential of Calypto's products and technologies. Badru Agarwala, a pioneer in design and verification improvements and the former CEO of both Axiom Design Automation and Frontline Design Automation, will assume the role of General Manager of the Calypto business unit....

Mentor Graphics Acquires Calypto Design Systems -- WILSONVILLE, Ore., Sept. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

 

[Pawan Fangaria]

Back in last December, when Calypto announced Catapult 8, I had written an article - https://www.semiwiki.com/forum/content/4073-hls-–-major-improvement-through-generations.html

There was a brief background there about the origin of HLS. Mentor was one of the initiators of HLS with Catapult in 2004 which worked for pipelined, multi-block subsystems. However, HLS has taken (still taking) long duration to come in main stream.

The Catapult along with SLEC and other related technologies found a good home in Calypto in 2011 and flourished from there on. Today, the product after grooming well is coming back to its parent to compliment much advanced technologies at system level the parent has developed over years

Are we going to see the clash of the titans between the big three in coming years? Smaller ones are consolidating with them. Nevertheless, their turf area still remain the original ones - Synthesis, Layout, and Layout Verification!

 

[Daniel Payne]

When Mentor spun out it's Catapult HLS product line into Calypto in 2011 it was certainly a different approach than what we typically see in the EDA world, however the clue that Mentor maintained a 51% equity in Calypto meant that one day they would reel all of Calypto back into the fold. For the engineers and support people working on Catapult, the change is kind of transparent because they never left the Wilsonville campus of Mentor Graphics.

 

[Mike Bryant]

Could anyone comment on what the current situation is like in the US for EDA startups. Most (all) of them will have an exit strategy of "sell to C/M/S (pick one)" but recently investors in Europe seem to be baulking at this strategy and good startups are failing to raise funding.

 

[Daniel Payne]

Could anyone comment on what the current situation is like in the US for EDA startups. Most (all) of them will have an exit strategy of "sell to C/M/S (pick one)" but recently investors in Europe seem to be baulking at this strategy and good startups are failing to raise funding.

Mike, another exit strategy for EDA start-ups is to get acquired by an IDM like Intel (i.e. DOCEA Power, Nascentric) or a Foundry.

 

[Mike Bryant]

Mike, another exit strategy for EDA start-ups is to get acquired by an IDM like Intel (i.e. DOCEA Power, Nascentric) or a Foundry.

Yes Intel have bought a few European EDA startups over the years but again the selling prices are lowish so that puts off the VCs here from investing.

 

[Daniel Payne]

Yes Intel have bought a few European EDA startups over the years but again the selling prices are lowish so that puts off the VCs here from investing.

Mike,

I agree, when Intel buys an EDA company it is usually an asset sale so they receive the software and very few of the people.

Perhaps when the replacement to CMOS or FinFET technology is commercialized, then we will have a complete retooling of EDA software, making it an attractive area for VC activity again.