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CRITICALBLUE ANNOUCES CLOSING OF FIRST ROUND FUNDING

Names leading Semiconductor Veteran to Board as Non Executive Director

23 September 2003

CriticalBlue, an Electronic Design Automation (EDA) start-up focused on delivering EDA tools for accelerating software in embedded microprocessor applications, has announced the closing of its first round of private equity funding, led by Pentech Ventures. The company has also announced the promotion of co-founder David Stewart to CEO and the appointment of Peter Denyer to its Board as a Non-Executive director.

Peter Denyer was founder and CEO of VISION, a Scottish technology company that developed and sold CMOS image sensors, which grew to an IPO in 1995 and was ultimately sold to ST Microelectronics in 1999. He led the company through all the stages of seed and corporate funding rounds, private and public placements and ultimately through its sale.

“We are extremely pleased to have completed the main phase of our first round funding strategy. This allows the Company to complete the product development and to launch Cascade onto the global market,” commented David Stewart, CEO, CriticalBlue. “We are also delighted that Pentech has invested in CriticalBlue and that Peter has agreed to join our Board. Together with Pentech, Peter brings a new range of capabilities that greatly enhances the Company’s prospects.”

“David’s wealth of experience and contacts within the EDA industry and user community makes him the ideal choice to take CriticalBlue to next phase of the company’s growth,” commented Dr. Ben Hounsell, interim CEO, co-founder and now vice president of Business Development, CriticalBlue. “He is the ideal person to maximize our strong market opportunity and next stage. I’m pleased he’s accepted this new role.”

CriticalBlue’s software tool suite Cascade significantly reduces lengthy development times and risks associated with today’s complex electronic devices where designers are required to make difficult decisions between implementing functions either entirely in software on an embedded microprocessor or in custom-hardware.

“The software to hardware implementation space in which CriticalBlue is operating is extremely interesting. System design houses are coming under increasing pressure to shorten their time to market for new designs, yet current solutions are not able to meet customer demands,” said Eddie Anderson, Director of Pentech Ventures. “The approach taken by CriticalBlue directly addresses the time to market issue, and fits neatly into the customer’s current design process, ensuring painless customer adoption.”

For further information:

Pentech Ventures
Eddie Anderson
Tel: +44 (0)141 572 7303
Email: eddie@pentechvc.com

PR Representative
Maggie Wright Associates
Tel: +44 (0)131 226 3622 or 07801 710360
Email: maggie@mwa-scotland.com

David Stewart
Critical Blue
Tel: +44 (0) 131 650 7459
Email: david.stewart@criticalblue.com

Leslie Cumming
Skye Marketing Communications
Tel: +1 (503) 997 0994
Email: leslie@skyecommunications.com