Since the first closing of its Series B round last year, programmable chipmaker Stretch Inc. has chosen to target the video surveillance sector, selling to security companies in China and Taiwan. Its investors have now poured an additional $15 million into the company, closing the second round at $27 million and bringing total investment in the company to more than $100 million.

The investors are the same ones who jump-started Stretch with a $72 million Series A round, completed in 2006. Worldview Technology Partners, Oak Investment Partners and Menlo Ventures were described as co-leaders, as in the June 2007 first closing.

Prior to an October 2007 announcement, Stretch had yet to closely define its market. The company's chips are known as field-programmable gate arrays, meaning that customers can configure the chips after they are manufactured, using software (in contrast to application-specific integrated circuits, which are designed to perform a specific function). Leaders in the FPGA arena include Altera Inc. [ALTR] and Xilinx Inc. [XLNX], while startup eASIC -- a vendor of FPGA chips as well as other varieties -- received $48 million in new funding from investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Khosla Ventures earlier this month. - Paul Bonanos


See March 27 press release from Stretch
See March 13 post from Tech Confidential