Qualtré, Inc., a developer of next generation silicon MEMS inertial sensors, announced today that it has finalized an $8 million Series C strategic round of investment from a new strategic investor and from Matrix Partners and Pilot House Ventures, contributors to Qualtré’s previous rounds.
Qualtré will use the Series C financing to continue development of its Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) MEMS sensor design and its High Aspect Ratio PolySilicon/Single-Crystal Silicon (HARPSS) process technology, which have demonstrated benefits compared to alternative sensor technologies. This differentiation sets Qualtré apart from other companies in the rapidly growing market for inertial sensors, and is also the main reason Qualtré was selected by EETimes as one of the top ten MEMS/Analog start-up companies to watch in 2014.
Qualtré continues its partnership with Alps Electric, which was announced in 2013. Qualtré and Alps Electric are working together to launch Qualtré’s first product – a 3-axis gyro targeting the industrial market. This product will show best-in-class performance on a number of characteristics – such as performance resistant to vibration and shock – at a 2x price/performance advantage. The demonstrated performance of this product, along with this Series C financing, provide validation of the strength of Qualtré’s BAW & HARPSS technologies.
The Series C investment will enable Qualtré to execute its strategy of developing inertial sensor products for high-end markets and leverage the versatility of its BAW & HARPSS technologies for the consumer market. Using its HARPSS process to provide a cost reduction path, the company will realize its mission of enabling next generation consumer applications like indoor navigation, location-aware services, and optical/electrical image stabilization at the lowest system-level cost. “MEMS has emerged as one of the major innovation trends,” commented Edgar Masri, President & CEO of Qualtre. “Qualtré is positioned to enable the next generation of sensor-based applications like location-based services, driver-assisted vehicles, and the Internet of Things due to the combination of our disruptive BAW & HARPSS technologies and our highly skilled engineering team.”