Oblong Industries, a US-headquartered, gesture-based user interface technology developer backed by conglomerate General Electric, secured $65m in funding yesterday from investors including Utimco, the investment arm of University of Texas System.
Industry Ventures, Greenspring Associates, Morgan Stanley and Foundry Group also contributed capital to the round.
Founded in 2006, Oblong Industries is developing Mezzanine, an immersive visual collaboration tool. The company’s technology is based on work undertaken by John Underkoffler, a computer scientist at MIT Media Lab, part of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The funding will enable Oblong to accelerate product development and its timetable for market releases. The company also plans on expanding into new geographies.
Oblong closed a $21m series B round in 2012 led by Foundry Group that included Energy Technology Ventures, the fund formed by GE, and energy companies NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips, as well as Morgan Stanley, and angel investor William Herman.
Oblong also raised $8.8m in 2013, according to a securities filing, the same amount Foundry Group provided in series A capital in 2007.
– The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.