DecaWave, whose chips can guarantee indoor GPS accuracy to within 10cm, is positioned to be a lead player in the internet of things.
DecaWave, the Irish chipmaker that creates wireless devices that can be located indoors to an accuracy of 10cm, has raised US$4.5m in a new funding round that will enable it to become a leading player in the internet of things (IoT) economy and bringing the total it has raised to date to US$30m.
The funding round came from angel investors and DecaWave was advised by corporate financier Richard O’Loughlin.
The funding will be used to quicken the development of DecaWave’s technology to arrive in time for consumer demand for IoT technology.
DecaWave offers Ultra Wideband (UWB) wireless technology for precise location and connectivity applications that can identify the specific location of any object, person or place, guaranteeing indoor location accuracy within 10cm with greater than 99pc reliability.
DecaWave technology will be installed in cars as early as 2017
DecaWave’s DW1000 chip allows both accurate measurement of time and data communication to occur simultaneously, in a wide variety of applications by developers of real-time location and indoor positioning systems, IoT and wireless sensor networks.
Since launching its flagship product in 2013, DecaWave has seen significant progress, with more than 900 customers working on its UWB technology.
The technology is being deployed in healthcare, factory automation, safety, mining and sports analytics, and DecaWave technology will be installed in cars as early as 2017.
Paving the road to the internet of things
“DecaWave has seen continual growth since our launch, and now with the internet of things, there is increasing demand for highly-accurate location solutions for everyday items in the consumer markets – the connected home driving the pack,” said Ciaran Connell, DecaWave CEO.
“This latest funding round allows us to accelerate the development of our technology and expand our company to meet our customers’ expectations.
“We are already looking to the next step. The IoT — with its scale — is driving a demand for highly-customised chips, each of those delivering the best feature/power/cost combination for a specific application. To fully embrace this IoT wave, we want to have several chips simultaneously in design, which will require us to treble our workforce.
“Therefore, DecaWave will seek a minimum of €10m in a funding round opening early 2016. This round will be opened to Angels but also, for the first time, to institutional investors.”
Updated 15 June 2015 at 4.26pm: This article initially incorrectly stated that Decawace raised US$30m in this funding round, rather than to date. Siliconrepublic.com apologises for this error.
