Finland-based conductive film developer Canatu has raised €12m ($14.2m) in funding from investors including automotive components producer Denso, which provided half the money.
Fellow auto parts supplier Faurecia invested €2m while venture capital firm Ascend Capital Partners put up the remaining €4m, also buying an undisclosed amount of secondary shares, as part of a €24m investment spree that took in four Finland-based companies.
Canatu designs and produces stretchable, transparent conductive films and touch sensors that facilitate the creation of 3D consumer electronics and automotive technology that can be operated through touch.
Juha Kokkonen, Canatu’s CEO, said: “These significant strategic investments coupled with partnerships enable Canatu to accelerate product development, further develop the mass production automatisation, fasten market expansion and expand to new strategic product areas.
“This funding also strengthens our global geographical presence especially in Asia and Europe.”
Hirotsugu Takeuchi, an executive director at Denso, added: “Denso wants to be in the forefront of the development in future mobility. Based on this vision, we wanted to invest to Canatu because we trust the unique technology can be used in several product areas of the future’s driving.”
Canatu has now raised approximately $57m in debt and equity financing. It secured $6.5m in 2010 from Inventure, Infosto and Tekes, all of which returned for a $12m round led by Troika Ventures in 2013.
The company subsequently received $13.2m in debt financing from European Investment Bank in July 2016, and $11.1m in equity financing from undisclosed investors two months later.