Link_A_Media Devices Raises $22 Million

Link_A_Media Devices Corporation, a leader in data recovery and transport technologies for storage devices, secured $22 million in Series B financing.

The funding round, led by AIG SunAmerica Ventures, was secured from four additional financial and corporate investors – KeyNote Ventures, NEC Electronics, Micron Technology, Inc and Seagate Technology.

Link_A_Media Devices is developing a new class of data recovery solutions based on Iterative Decoding and Nonlinear Signal Processing methods for peripheral storage devices, including hard disk drives (HDD) and solid-state drives (SSD). These solutions are designed to exceed the performance of conventional methods deployed in peripheral storage devices, as well as provide adaptive features that can be used during manufacturing to improve drive yields and product margins.

“AIG SunAmerica Ventures is pleased to be investing in Link_A_Media Devices at this exciting time in the industry,” said Troy Fukumoto, managing director of AIG SunAmerica Ventures. “Link_A_Media Devices is a compelling opportunity because of the team’s successful track record and deep domain experience in the HDD read channel space. We are enthusiastic to partner with Link_A_Media Devices and look forward to helping the company address fast growing peripheral storage markets such as the SSD space.”

Due to increasing demands from HDD and SSD applications, customers require advanced data recovery technologies within the SoC to consistently maximize capacity, minimize costs and increase reliability.

The initial product offering from Link_A_Media Devices targets the mobile segment of the peripheral storage market, where highest areal density, highest drive yields and lowest power consumption are paramount. Link_A_Media Devices’ powerful data recovery technologies maximize the storage density potential associated with storage components, including media and sensors. More importantly, they improve the drive yields during manufacturing, thereby enabling drive-OEM’s to better leverage their investments in other storage components, while reducing overall drive costs.

“We are pleased to receive this strong endorsement of our product plans and growth strategy from a distinguished investor syndicate,” said Hemant Thapar, founder and CEO of Link_A_Media Devices. “Over the past four years, we have made great strides in developing and demonstrating our leading-edge, custom SoC capabilities and data recovery technologies to potential customers. We are now on track to commercialize our technologies and create an inflection point in the data recovery technology trends for peripheral storage devices, both HDDs and SSDs.”

Link_A_Media Devices developed its key technologies through a strategic relationship with NEC Electronics. The Series B funds will be used to commercialize its technologies in HDD and SSD applications, and to continue to enhance its technology leadership position.

Link_A_Media Devices