Michel Desbard

CEO, Crocus Technology

Michel Desbard started his career as financial auditor with the Thomson Group, a major French defense firm, and was appointed Financial Director at Thomson's semi-conductor division in 1977. In 1981, he moved to California to join Fairchild Semi-Conductor as Financial Controller for the memory division. In 1983, Michel returned to France as Matra-Harris Semi-Conductor's Chief Operations Officer, and became Chairman and CEO in 1989. He sold Matra-Harris to Temics (Daimler-Benz group) in 1992 and remained with Temic as Matra-Harris' CEO for another 4 years. Michel has been a serial entrepreneur since he left Temic in 1996 to start a California-based company, T.square, developing network processors. Initially funded by US venture capitalists such as Walden, Sofinnova US and Alta partners, T.square was successfully sold to Globespan in 2000. He is also a business angel and a board member in several semi-conductors companies.

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Crocus Secures $21M In Funding

The new capital will enable Crocus to deploy the strategy for its sensor product line in the key target markets Crocus Technology, the supplier of magnetic sensors and embedded memory solutions designed with Magnetic Logic Unit™ (MLU) technology, recently announces it has secured $21M (€19M) in funding. All of Crocus’ historical French and international investors participated in the round, cementing their solidarity and long-term commitment: NanoDimension, Innovation Capital, IdInvest Partners, Ventech, Sofinnova, CEA Investissement, Rusnano and Industrial Investor Group. Kreos Capital also backed the round because of Crocus’ strong prospects. It is the second time that this growth debt provider has helped finance Crocus’ MLU strategy. The upswing in prospects stems from the important performance advantages that Crocus’ proprietary MLU technology, a disruptive CMOS-based rugged magnetic technology, brings to its magnetic sensors. Crocus’ magnetic sensors have significant attributes that support applications where high sensitivity, high temperature, low noise and low cost are key, such as smart metering, power management and solutions for IoT (Internet of Things). Crocus began producing MLU-based magnetic sensors in mid-2014. Since then, the business line has experienced a sizeable increase in its global customer base, upwards of 250 new customers. The company aims to further develop its sensor business line to address a global market expected to grow from $1.48 billion in 2014 to $1.87 billion by 2018 (IHS Technology, Magnetic Sensor Market Tracker 2015). The New Capital Will Enable Crocus To: Deploy the strategy for its sensor product line in the key target markets: industrial, consumer electronics, automotive and solutions for IoT Strengthen its commercial resources, including finalizing a distribution network in Asia and reinforcing the support team Develop new designs to enrich the product portfolio with integrated sensor and smart sensor applications “This funding is a testament to the trust our shareholders hold in the vast potential of our MLU technology and its ability to satisfy the demands of the sensor market,” said Michel Desbard, CEO of Crocus Technology. “For the last few months, the team has made a very big push to raise important customer interest in our sensors. This effort is paying off. The sensor business line is taking off with a growing pipeline. We are planning for a first break-even quarter in Q1 2016.” Founded in 2004, Crocus has raised $194M (€180.3M) to date. Michel Desbard, who has served as Crocus’ shareholder representative for Innovation Capital for eight years, took over the role of CEO of Crocus Technology in November 2014.

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