A COMPANY set up by an Oxford University don who invented a new computer language has raised 13m to fund its rapid growth.

Embedded Solutions Ltd, based at Milton Park, near Abingdon, was set up by Ian Page to commercialise his language called Handel-C.

It has developed software allowing manufacturers to design electronic circuits more cheaply and faster.

Chief executive Jon Treanor said: "Our business has two strands. We can reduce the design time of a chip by up to two thirds. Electronic products that carry a chip can take a year or two to redesign and with the speed of technological advance, cutting the time to get a product to market is crucial.

"We can use our technology to design chips faster and cheaper - anything from a mobile phone to a supercomputer.

"We also use a new type of chip called FPDAs, with changeable properties, which opens the door to a new world of reconfigurable computing."

This could allow an electronic device like a mobile phone to change its function, for example, into a MP3 music player.

He said: "We have grown from three to 50 people in eight months and we hope to have 80 here by the end of the summer, plus 25 in the US and ten in Asia.

"We are looking for people keen to get into what is going to be a phenomenally fast-growing area - a leading-edge technology."

Mr Treanor, a former director of Philips Media and European marketing director of Sony Video Software, had already raised 5m to start the company from business angels, including Richard Farleigh, who has ploughed 60m into Oxfordshire hi-tech start-ups.

One of the new investors is and computer firm Creative Technology, which mades Soundblaster and other games-related software for PCs.

ESL has also signed a collaboration agreement with Marconi. The telecoms giant will use ESL's software for an undisclosed purpose. At the same time, ESL unveiled plans for a new range of Internet-enabled mass access devices.

Mr Treanor believes his company's stock market flotation, planned for the end of this year, will be the biggest of any Oxford University spin-off company, valuing the company at 500m. The university owns five per cent of the company.

Story date: Tuesday 11 April

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