A HOME-GROWN technology start-up is getting a cash injection from the founders of Skype, a world renowned communication software firm.
Progeniq, a maker of hardware cards that speed up the performance of existing computers, will receive a seven-figure sum jointly from Ambient Sound Investments (ASI) - an investment firm formed by four of Skype's founding engineers - and Singapore investment funds BAF Spectrum and Spring Seeds Capital.
The partners declined to reveal details of the funding, but it is the first time ASI has invested in a Singapore company.
Progeniq chief executive Darran Nathan, 29, said the funds will go towards marketing his company internationally and kick-starting production of the Renderboost card, a hardware card that speeds up the processing of high-definition video frames by up to four times.
'We want to focus on expanding our business and getting the Renderboost card to market as soon as possible,' he said, adding that production of the card would kick off in June.
Mr Nathan said his company was in talks with several major Hollywood studios, as well as some in India and China.
Each studio, he said, could buy up to hundreds of Renderboost cards at a go. Each Renderboost card costs US$3,000 (S$4,100) and is installed on existing computer servers to boost their performance.
A spokesman for ASI said the company hoped its investment would help Progeniq achieve greater international exposure. On why it chose to invest in Progeniq, the spokesman said ASI had always had an interest in technology start-ups.
'(The company's) idea or technology has to create excitement at first sight - we consider whether it has hidden virtues that can be opened up with our help.'
Progeniq fits this criterion, the spokesman added.
For Mr William Klippgen, 41, executive director of BAF Spectrum and Progeniq's newly appointed executive chairman, the company's draw was its 'strong core technology'.
'Its technology is cost-effective and environmentally friendly,' said Mr Klippgen, who also co-founded Kelkoo.com, a popular European price comparison service that was bought by Yahoo in 2004.
Mr Nathan, together with Mr Kelvin Lim, 29, his former classmate at Woodlands Secondary School, co-founded Progeniq in 2005 under a government assistance scheme that provides seed funding for young entrepreneurs to start their own businesses.
At the time, Spring Singapore and Ngee Ann Polytechnic gave Progeniq $66,000. With an additional $16,000 from their own savings, Mr Nathan and Mr Lim started the company in a rented office at the National University of Singapore's Prince George's Park before moving to their current office in Bukit Batok in 2008.
The company opened its first overseas office in California the same year.
hanqing@sph.com.sg