Richard is Chief Financial Officer and Co-Founder of Artimi Inc, a venture backed semiconductor company developing next generation wireless chips using Ultra-Wideband radio technology. The applications being addressed are (i) Wireless USB: replacing the USB cables that connect PC,PC Peripheral, consumer electronic and mobile devices with wireless connectivity; and (ii) High Speed Bluetooth: upgrading Bluetooth to a version that transfers data approx 500x faster.
The company has raised $50m in two rounds from tier 1 venture capital investors in the US, UK and Europe (Accel Partners, Amadeus Capital, Index Ventures, Oak Investment Partners, Khosla Ventures, Bank of Scotland Private Equity) and is currently in the process of raising a further round.
In parallel Richard is in the process of launching a second start-up to address a niche in the Wireless Infrastructure eco-system, specifically in relation to the imminent rollout of wireless broadband technologies such as WiMax and LTE.
Prior to co-founding Artimi in late 2002, Richard was an Investment Banker with ABN AMRO and Barclays der Zoete Wedd (BZW) for six years. In this role, he undertook more than 10 merger and acquisition transactions. In addition equity market activities undertaken in this role included two global IPOs (Contact Energy, Auckland Airport), along with multiple private placements, rights issues and corporate share buybacks. Prior to ABN AMRO, Richard spent two years at Coopers & Lybrand in corporate tax.
Richard is a qualified barrister and solicitor, and chartered accountant. He holds Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Law degrees from Auckland University and an M.B.A. from Cambridge University.
