Atlas Venture and Pond Venture Partners have provided $7m (€8.4m) in first-round funding for Picochip Designs, a UK startup that designs semiconductors for base stations used by third generation (3G) mobile telephones.

The funding round was led by Pond Ventures, which is understood to have contributed slightly more to the company than fellow UK venture capital firm Atlas. Picochip still has no revenues and will use the funds to further develop its technology.