Raza Microelectronics, Inc. Secures $20 Million in Strategic Venture Funding

Raza Microelectronics, Inc. Secures $20 Million in Strategic Venture Funding

April 05, 2006

Company Building upon Significant Customer Success in Security, Wireless and Networking Markets

    CUPERTINO, Calif., April 5 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Raza
Microelectronics, Inc. (RMI(R)), a worldwide leader in
advanced silicon solutions for the next generation
Information Infrastructure, today announced the completion
of a $20 million round of financing led by Advanced
Equities Financial Corp. This funding will accelerate RMI's
marketing and sales expansion in both North America and Asia
and build on the significant customer momentum the company
has enjoyed over the last year.

    Joining lead investor Advanced Equities Financial Corp.
in this round of funding are existing RMI investors, Warburg
Pincus, Benchmark Capital, Duff Ackerman & Goodrich and
Kodiak Venture Partners.

    "RMI has created a position of market leadership
in a short period of time and we are thrilled to be a
shareholder in such a technically advanced, rapidly growing
semiconductor company," said Keith Daubenspeck,
Chairman and Co-founder of Advanced Equities Financial
Corp. "The impressive depth and breadth of their
worldwide customer base and technology uniqueness confirms
that RMI is extremely well positioned to further its lead
in the next-generation Security, Wireless and Networking
markets."

    Commenting on the new financing, Beau Vrolyk, a Warburg
Pincus managing director, said: "This round of funding
will help drive the company's expansion with strategic
customers and we look forward to RMI's continued success in
the market."

    Bruce Dunlevie, general partner of Benchmark Capital,
added, "We are pleased to welcome Advanced Equities as
an investor in RMI, and Advanced Equities' track record of
identifying and supporting pre-public market leaders as
another important endorsement of RMI's past success and
strong future prospects." 

    "This financing reinforces RMI's position in the
industry, and confirms to our customers that their choice
of RMI as a supplier has been validated yet again by the
capital markets," said S. Atiq Raza, chief executive
officer, Raza Microelectronics, Inc. "As the leader in
silicon solutions for the next generation Information
Infrastructure, we continue to invest in technical
advancements, expand our market coverage, and deliver
exceptional customer support, growing our market position
and ensuring our customers' success."

    RMI's products push the edge of processor technology in
performance and integration and are used by system and
original equipment manufacturers to quickly respond to
changing market needs. The company's XLR(TM) and Orion(TM)
processor families are complex, highly integrated designs
incorporating hundreds of millions of transistors and built
on leading-edge TSMC silicon process technologies. 

    About Raza Microelectronics, Inc. (RMI)

    RMI(R) is a fabless semiconductor company with more
than 150 employees dedicated to the design, development and
sale of its semiconductor products. The company offers a
rich portfolio of solutions, led by the XLR(TM) Processor
family -- a power efficient solution optimized for embedded
communications and networking applications -- and solutions
for the next generation Information Infrastructure. The
company is headquartered in Cupertino, CA with subsidiaries
in Beijing and Shenzhen, China and in Bangalore, India. More
information about Raza Microelectronics, Inc. can be found
on the Company's website at
http://www.razamicroelectronics.com .

    About Advanced Equities

    Advanced Equities Financial Corp. is a progressive
full-service broker-dealer and venture capital investment
bank. Advanced Equities' Financial Services Group is one of
the 20 largest independent brokerage firms in the U.S., with
approximately 600 financial advisors providing retail
brokerage services from over 200 domestic branch locations
and over $14 billion in client assets. Advanced Equities'
Capital Markets Group is a leading provider of late stage
private equity financing and other investment banking
services to emerging technology companies.

    About Warburg Pincus

    Warburg Pincus has been a leading private equity
investor since 1971. Throughout its 40-year history in
private equity, Warburg Pincus has invested at all stages
of a company's life cycle, from founding start-ups and
providing growth capital to leading restructurings,
recapitalizations and buy-outs.  The firm currently has
approximately $12 billion under management and invests in a
range of sectors including information and communication
technology, financial services, healthcare, LBOs and
special situations, media and business services, energy and
real estate.  Warburg Pincus has raised 11 private equity
investment funds which have invested more than $22 billion
in approximately 525 companies in 30 countries.  Currently
the firm is investing from an $8 billion fund which closed
in August 2005.  An experienced partner to entrepreneurs
seeking to create and build durable companies with
sustainable value, Warburg Pincus has offices in North
America, Europe and Asia and an active portfolio of more
than 100 companies.  Warburg Pincus has invested
approximately $5 billion in more than 140 technology
companies, including BEA Systems; VERITAS Software [now
Symantec]; Zilog; Datang Microelectronics; Level One
Communications and RMI. For more information please visit
http://www.warburgpincus.com .

    About Benchmark Capital

    Benchmark Capital was founded in 1995 with the mission
of helping talented entrepreneurs build major technology
enterprises focused on long-term growth. Benchmark takes a
labor-intensive, team-oriented approach to venture
investing in order to deliver a superior level of service
to its portfolio companies. Benchmark's portfolio includes
franchise companies such as Ariba, eBay, Palm, Inc.,
Juniper Networks and Red Hat.

    NOTE:  Raza Microelectronics, RMI, the RMI logo, XLR,
Orion and the other trademarks named on the RMI website are
trademarks of Raza Microelectronics, Inc. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

    For more information, please contact:

     Kaye McKenzie,
     Quatrain PR
     Tel: [phone]

     D. Christopher Keil, Sr. Director, 
     Corporate Marketing of Raza Microelectronics, Inc.
     Tel: [phone]

SOURCE  Raza Microelectronics, Inc.