Dec 4 2014
Novelda, a developer and manufacturer of adaptive smart sensors, announces the closing of a $12M Series A financing round to secure delivery and further development of its XeThru sensor technology. The first XeThru sensors are designed to detect movement and human body vital signs such as breathing and heart rate from a distance of several meters.
In addition to normal motion detection, the sensors can detect other types of movement including proximity, gestures and more. The sensors use harmless, extremely low energy, high frequency (GHz) radio waves and can sense through clothing, bedding and obstacles such as glass, walls and other materials.
L-R Geir Ove Kjesbu, CEO, Investinor and Alf-Egil Bogen, CEO, Novelda
The XeThru sensor is based on Novelda’s proprietary, highly integrated X2 system-on-chip (SOC) that enables system designs to achieve fast, accurate and economical sensing of movement, distance, motion, speed, presence and proximity. The use of advanced digital signal processing allows multiple sensors to be placed in the same room without interference.
The lead investor in this financing round is Investinor AS, an investment company funded by the Norwegian government. Investinor is the largest and most active venture capital investor in Norway and manages US$600 million on the same commercial terms as its co-investors. Other investors in this round are Alliance Venture, Sparebank 1 SMN Invest and several employees and angel investors in Norway and the USA.
“Novelda has everything an investor is looking for: an impressive customer portfolio, superior technology with home run market potential, protected by strong IPR, a management team with proven and outstanding track record, all backed by owners with a superior network in the electronics industry”, said Geir Ove Kjesbu, CEO of Investinor AS.
Suited to a variety of commercial and industrial applications, XeThru technology creates new design possibilities in home and building automation, security systems, smart city applications, robot vision, gesture recognition, proximity sensing and advanced tracking sensors.
“Our XeThru technology will be available for creative designers both as a prebuilt sensor, with or without firmware, and as an SOC for a fully customized solution”, explained Novelda CEO, Alf-Egil Bogen, “We have a set of value-added resellers that can be found on our website. These are highly competent partners that can assist with guidance in the design of sensors using the XeThru technology” he continued.
Novelda’s XeThru X2 Inspiration Kit, which includes a preprogrammed movement sensor and various X2 sensor modules for development and experimentation, will be available for customers in January 2015. The kit comes complete with software and Matlab easy-start examples.
For more information, see the XeThru technology website www.xethru.com.