Earlybird Venture Capital has sold its portfolio company BridgeCo Inc to SMSC, a semiconductor company enabling content rich connectivity systems. BridgeCo’s JukeBlox technology connects tablets, smartphones, PCs, Macs and other consumer electronics products to a new world of audio entertainment.
Earlybird invested in BridgeCo in 2000 as the company’s first institutional investor. In addition to providing BridgeCo with capital in the early stage of the company’s development, Earlybird also worked alongside the seasoned management team to identify the best sources of later stage capital requirements and aided them in their successful internationalization strategy.
With the industry’s only system-on-a-chip (SoC) and Software Design Kit (SDK) for networked audio, BridgeCo is making the connected home a reality and enabling consumers to access their local or cloud-based music library from any device and from any room in the home. BridgeCo’s technology has been adopted by some of the largest consumer electronics brands in the world including Pioneer, Philips, Denon, Marantz, JBL, B&W and Harman/Kardon, leading to a doubling of customer products in production in each of the last three years.
Earlybird Managing Partner Christian Nagel (pictured) and board member of BridgeCo, says: "This exit demonstrates our systematic approach of identifying extraordinary German and European technology companies who can reshape industries and our deep commitment to developing these companies into world-class enterprises, and our necessary staying power as a venture capitalist."
