Spark Micro raises Series B for short-range UWB
Spark Microsystems Inc. (Montreal, Canada), a startup offering low-power ultrawideband transceivers, has raised CDN$34 million (about US$24.7 million) in Series B financing. There is an additional CDN$14 million (about US$10.2 million) available subject to Spark meeting certain operational milestones.
Spark already offers a couple of generic transceivers; the SR1010 and SR1020 UWB transceivers that operate from 3.1GHz to 6GHz and 6GHz to 9.25GHz, respectively.
The company said the money raised would be used for sales, marketing and development of products for mobile electronic devices and smart sensors, the company said.
The latest round of financing comes less than a year after Spark received CDN$7.1 million (about US$5.2 million) in funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (see Spark raises funds for third-generation UWB short-range wireless).
Spark argues that for applications up to about 100 metres a UWB system can achieve energy efficiencies of 1nJ/bit, a factor of 30 below Bluetooth Low Energy. In practice Spark reckons its UWB technology delivers 10x more data throughput, 60x lower latency, and 40x lower power consumption than Bluetooth/BLE.
Led by Idealist Capital, a prominent investment firm focused on the energy transition and decarbonization, the round includes existing investors Cycle Capital, Economic Development Canada (EDC), Real Ventures, and ND Capital.
The money will be used for sales, marketing and development of products for mobile electronic devices and smart sensors, the company said.
Spark said it has expanded its collaboration with the IEEE, the UWB Alliance and the FiRa Consortium.
“This new financing marks a pivotal milestone in the mass market commercialization of Spark’s UWB technology, equipping us to meet massive demand for breakthrough performance in short-range wireless connectivity,” said Fares Mubarak, CEO of Spark, in a statement.
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