Pyreos Limited, a Scotland-based maker of ultra‐low power consumption infrared sensors, announced at the end of December 2013 that it had secured a further funding round of $4m led by Robert Bosch Venture Capital, the investment arm of Germany-based technology company Bosch, UK‐based venture capital fund Seraphim Capital, Siemens Technology Accelerator, a corporate venturing unit Germany-based technology company Siemens, and the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB), the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise.
The funding secured will enable Pyreos to grow the touchless, human gesture command marketplace by initially launching two separate products which specialise in human gesture and proximity recognition at a near range of 20cm and another at a range of up to 1 meter in the smartphone and tablet markets as well as open up further growth opportunities within the PC, TV, docking station, audio speaker and smart energy device markets.
Previously, Pyreos has raised a funding total of $21.2m.
Claus Schmidt, Managing Director of Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH commented ” We are excited to support Pyreos in exploiting existing and untapped opportunities within the field of human, touchless gesture and proximity control using Pyreos’ core technology. The design breakthrough they have achieved in reducing power consumption and hence eliminating the long-standing, industry barrier of the battery drainage issue means the potential in mobile and handeld applications across consumer and industrial markets globally, is expolsive. The investment will fund growth in the team to extend their established, international customer base further.”
Pyreos was founded in 2007 as a technology spin-out from Siemens.