Dolphin Integration

In 1985, Michel Depeyrot founded Dolphin Integration in the French “Silicon Valley” of Grenoble. The company’s goal was to serve the growing microelectronics industry by providing design services for custom circuits. Dolphin Integration’s business was built on creating and licensing intellectual property, or IP. Think of these as pre-designed, reusable building blocks—like virtual components—that other companies could integrate into their own semiconductor chips. This focus on low-power and mixed-signal IP made their products valuable for everything from consumer electronics to automotive and IoT devices. For decades, the company grew its expertise and customer base. The big shift happened in late 2024. The private equity firm Jolt Capital acquired the core IP division of the company, which had been renamed Dolphin Design, and spun it out into a new, independent entity: Dolphin Semiconductor. This strategic move, backed by a €26 million investment, allowed the new company to double down on developing complex analog and digital IP for a global market, led by CEO Laurent Monge. Today, Dolphin Semiconductor continues its founder's original mission, operating from France and Canada to supply the foundational components for the world’s evolving technology.