MEMS funding go ahead
-- Qualtre, Inc., a developer of solid state motion sensors for consumer electronics (CE) applications, has announced that it has completed an $8 million Series B round of financing, bringing the total funds raised to $13 million. The infusion will fund the company's product development, sales, and operations infrastructure to commercialize its proprietary Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) micro electromechanical system (MEMS) gyroscopes. Participating institutional venture capital investors in this round are Matrix Partners and Pilot House Ventures, whose past portfolio investments include Xilinx and SanDisk.
Qualtre is developing the world's first solid-state multi-axis MEMS gyroscopes targeting mobile handsets, game controllers, and digital camera image stabilization markets. Commercially available MEMS gyroscopes serving these applications have delicate moving mass structures vibrating at low frequencies of 5-50KHz, making them susceptible to bias drift over time, temperature and vibration. Qualtre gyroscopes operate at high frequency (2-10MHz) bulk acoustic modes to provide superior mechanical signal amplification with excellent bias stability over an extended temperature range, making them the preferred choice for demanding CE devices.
"MEMS gyroscopes are gaining popularity in game console controllers as they enable more accurate tracking of the user's hand motions with on-screen game play," said Stan Reiss, a General Partner with Matrix Partners. "We expect Qualtre's disruptive motion sensor technology will enable new functionality in the billion unit handset market through a gesture controlled user interface, entertaining mobile games, and pedestrian navigation services."
Tri-axis MEMS gyroscopes are expected to drive a new boom in the motion sensing market. Yole Developpement forecasts a $732 million market for MEMS gyroscopes in consumer electronic applications for 2015 with tri-axis gyroscopes representing 80% of this demand. In a success pattern seen before, the mobile phones will be the killer application for advanced gyroscopes, similar to the rapid adoption curve of MEMS accelerometers in handsets.
"We expect that GPS assistance will be a must-have for a wide range of mobile devices in the coming years, enabling pedestrian navigation and advanced location-based services," outlined, Laurent Robin, Lead MEMS Analyst for Yole Developpement. "Qualtre is addressing all the key handset challenges of excellent gyroscope bias stability, high sensitivity, low power consumption, and low cost."
"We are excited to provide the financial resources that the experienced Qualtre team can leverage to deliver the next generation MEMS inertial sensors for motion applications," explained Stephen Van Beaver, a General Partner at Pilot House Ventures.
"I am impressed with the accelerated pace of our product development and initial customer traction which has been recognized and rewarded by our investors," said Edgar Masri, the company's chief executive officer. "I am equally grateful to Qualtre's partners, who are exceptionally supportive and enthusiastic about our products and the technology's limitless potential."
