Sensel Completes Second Tranche Of $28 Million Series A Financing
Financing announced as Sensel works with multiple OEMs to integrate its touch technology into next generation consumer products
SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sensel, the company building the next wave of touch interfaces with PressureGrid™ technology, today announced the closing of the second tranche of its Series A financing, bringing the total raised in this series to $28 million. Investors include Susquehanna International Group (SIG), Morningside Group, SMiT, Palm Commerce Holdings Co. Ltd, Chariot Gold Limited, SV Tech Ventures, and Innolinks Ventures. The company has raised over $38 million since it was founded in 2013. Earlier investors include Green City Ventures Limited, u.life fund, Waterwood Growth Technology, Stanford-StartX Fund, Inventec Corporation, CRCM Ventures, and Tuesday Capital.
The funds raised will be used to expand Sensel's production, customer support, and supply chain capabilities as it works with multiple OEMs to integrate its technology into next generation mobile phones, notebooks, and more. It will also allow the company to continue supporting the Morph, an award winning, tablet-sized pressure sensor with swappable interface overlays that ships to customers around the world.
"Whether it's by replacing mechanical buttons on mobile devices with force sensing multi-touch and haptics, bringing force based sensing capabilities to notebook trackpads, or enabling touch functionality on wearables to work underwater or with gloves, Sensel is driving the next generation of user interfaces," said SIG Managing Director Joan Wang, who will be joining the company's board of directors. "We believe Sensel's high resolution and cost effective touch sensing solution will create a new era of innovations in human machine interfaces across industries, from gaming, to robotics, industrial machinery, and medical equipment. SIG has witnessed not only the exciting development of Sensel technology, but also progress in the team's management and maturity over the past 3 years. We are glad to join the other investors as Sensel enters a new phase of its business."
"Sensel's technology is uniquely advantaged to transform touch interfaces for customers everywhere," said Morningside Investment Manager Mick Sawka. "We're thrilled to support Sensel and look forward to continuing our strong relationship with the Sensel team."
"SMiT is excited to be an investor of Sensel, a company with the leading edge Force Sensing technology and its own IP," said SMiT President/COO Mr. HY Shuai. "The strong funding is clear recognition of its R&D excellence and market acceptance. We look forward to the abundant opportunities in deployments including but not limited to mobile, notebooks, etc."
Sensel's patented touch technology offers two functions in a single, ultra-thin sensor: position reporting with high accuracy, and force sensing with the ability to measure force from 1g to 5kg independently for each contact point. It responds to any object (styli, paintbrushes, fingernails), works in virtually any environment (underwater, with heavy gloves), and enables new form factors (foldable, flexible). It can be integrated behind a flexible AMOLED display, a non-display touchpad, steering wheel, or any surface area where a high-resolution force sensing experience is desired.
"Since Sensel's founding in 2013, we've worked tirelessly to create a sensor that outperforms existing touch technologies on every metric and at a lower overall cost," says Sensel Co-founder and CEO Ilya Rosenberg. "This financing brings us closer to our ultimate goal of improving how people experience the products they rely on every single day."
ABOUT SENSEL
Ilya Rosenberg and Aaron Zarraga founded Sensel to bring the next generation of touch to computing with PressureGrid™ technology. Having grown to ~50 team members, thousands of customers, and several large-scale enterprise clients, Sensel is working to redefine computer interaction to combine pressure sensitivity and multi-touch, and to meet the environmental challenges of ubiquitous computing. Sensel's first product, the Morph, won "Best in Show" at the SXSW 2017 Interactive Innovation Awards, was named the "Best MIDI Controller" at NAMM 2019 by MusicRadar, and is currently shipping to customers worldwide. The team is integrating their pressure-responsive sensors into trackpads, displays, mobile devices, automotive interfaces, and other products that involve human interaction.
ABOUT SUSQUEHANNA INTERNATIONAL GROUP
SIG began investing in private equity/venture capital in the China market in 2005. SIG invests across the continuum of the venture capital life-cycle, from early to late stage, and in a variety of industry sectors. In the last decade, SIG has invested in over 260 companies, with total investments exceeding $2 billion. Over 60 of SIG's portfolio companies have successfully exited or reached IPO.
ABOUT MORNINGSIDE GROUP
Morningside Group was founded in 1986 by the Chan family of Hong Kong to make private equity and venture capital investments. The group is managed by investment professionals who are entrepreneurial, have deep industry knowledge and are effective in the local environment in which they operate. In addition to its investment activities, Morningside Group is strongly committed to social responsibility.
ABOUT SMiT
SMiT Holdings Limited is a leading security device provider for paid TV broadcasting access worldwide and also engaged in the development of full process Electronic Design Automation systems for chip design.
MEDIA CONTACT
To schedule an interview with Sensel's executive team, contact [email protected]
For Sensel's media assets, including logos and founder headshots, click here.
SOURCE Sensel
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