DecaWave, an indigenous Irish fabless semi-conductor company specialising in precise location and connectivity applications, has secured $30 million in funding, bringing total funding to date for the company to $60 million.
Posts in engineering and R&D
The company, which recently opened offices in Silicon Valley, California, and Shenzhen, China, has also announced the creation of an additional 100 posts over the next three years, bringing to 150 the total number of employees at the company’s operations in Ireland, France, China and South Korea. The posts will be in engineering, R&D, sales & marketing and applications, with recruitment already under way.
The funding comes from a mixture of providers, including existing investors, Enterprise Ireland and venture capital funds led by Atlantic Bridge Ventures (Irl), and which includes the China Ireland Growth Technology Fund (China); ACT Venture Capital (Irl); and ZZ Ventures (China).
The funds will be used to accelerate the development of DecaWave’s second-generation solution to address the demand in the high-volume consumer and automotive markets. It will also allow DecaWave to further expand its presence in China, where it faces strong demand for its technology. The investment will also see Brian Long and Gerry Maguire of Atlantic Bridge and John Flynn of ACT Venture Capital join the board.
Wireless technology that provides precise location and connectivity
DecaWave offers Ultra-Wideband (UWB) wireless technology that provides precise location and connectivity for applications that can identify the specific location of any object, person, or place within centimetres. By enabling advanced analytics for factory automation, logistics, hospitals to securing car access communication to delivering new forms of user interface in robotics and connected homes, the DecaWave technology has already revolutionised many industries.
Founded in 2007 by Ciaran Connell, CEO, and Michael McLaughlin, CTO, DecaWave has more than 3,000 customers leveraging its UWB technology since launching its flagship product – DW1000 – in 2013. The DecaWave technology is already in production at Tier One consumer and automotive customers, with more than four million units sold to date.
DecaWave chairman and former Intel VP and general manager of Intel Ireland Jim O’Hara said: “This is one of the most exciting technology companies to emerge from Ireland over the past decade. It is turning heads internationally, getting strong market traction, not least in China, and with some premium global brands. This funding round and involvement of the stellar partners in it will ensure the very promising DecaWave trajectory is accelerated.”
Ciaran Connell, DecaWave CEO and co-founder, said: “Our vision has always been that our technology would play a key role in enabling the Internet of Things by accurately providing the ‘Where’ functionality for applications.
"This location capability is key to driving efficiencies in industrial markets, designing new context-based user interfaces in consumer applications, guiding robots or building secure communication protocols. This funding allows us to accelerate our technology development to offer even tighter integration, lower power and more affordable solutions.”