Oslo-based Sensibel, a company that commercialises ‘ultra-high-sensitivity’ MEMS microphones based on optical MEMS technology, announced that it has raised €15M in its Series A round of funding.
Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) is a process technology used to create tiny integrated devices or systems that combine mechanical and electrical components. They are fabricated using integrated circuit (IC) batch processing techniques and can range from a few micrometres to millimetres in size.
Investors in this round
The round was led by Germany’s TRUMPF Venture. The venture capital firm invests in early-stage startups whose activities are complementary or adjacent to the TRUMPF core business, such as advanced photonics and smart factory solutions. Funded startups benefit from an extensive network, deep domain know-how, proven skills in scalability as well as support to access the TRUMPF group and its ecosystem.
The European Council’s EIC Fund, Skagerak Capital, Investinor, and SINTEF Venture IV also invested.
The European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund) is an initiative of the European Commission to make direct equity and quasi-equity investments, between €500K and €15M, in European high impact and deep tech startups and scale-ups. The EIC Fund aims to fill a critical financing gap and its main purpose is to support companies in the development and commercialisation of disruptive technologies.
Heidi Kakko, a member of the EIC Fund Investment Committee, says, “SensiBel is a remarkable example of technology due to its team’s dedication to developing world-class products. It is our mission to back the innovators with the vision and private venture investors taking early-stage risks to advance technology and best teams into leading companies in their fields of operations.”
Capital utilisation
According to SensiBel, “Consumer electronics are expected to witness significant growth going forward, driven by a boom in audio related technologies.” The company says it will use the funds to ramp up production and support development and research activities.
As per market analytics from Yole Development, audio is the new must-have interface to interact with phones, speakers, cars, and even homes, and audio is also bringing new immersive experiences with ANC 3D audio, and sound transparency to better connect with reality.
Sverre Dale Moen, CEO of SensiBel, says, “We were told a few years back it would not be possible to make a MEMS microphone with 10 times better performance than today’s state-of-the-art MEMS microphones. We have now proven with our microphone, tested together with customers, we have such a disruptive performance, and are looking forward to further grow the company together with our experienced investors and a great team of employees into all markets where such performance is requested.”
“The microphone reinvented”
Most microphones used today are based on century-old technology. SensiBel is breaking with the past and introducing its patented optical technology to the microphones to enable true studio-quality performance in a small size package and a quantum leap in performance compared to today’s mainstream MEMS microphones.
The SensiBel optical MEMS technology can also be used in other MEMS products like accelerometers. Founded in 2016 by Jakob Vennerod, the company aims to disrupt the market and enable new and improved user experiences in a wide range of applications.
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