Pelican Imaging, a US-based inventor of array camera technology for mobile devices, has extended its recent series C round with an undisclosed amount of funding from new investor, Japan-based electronics company Panasonic Corporation.
The extra funding adds to the first $20m tranche of Pelican Imaging’s series C funding, announced in May 2013, from Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venture division of US-based semiconductor and telecoms equipment company Qualcomm, Nokia Growth Partners, the corporate venturing unit of Finland-based mobile phone maker Nokia, In-Q-Tel (IQT), the technology accelerator of the US government’s Central Intelligence Agency, and venture capital firms Globespan Capital Partners, Granite Ventures and InterWest Partners.
Previously, in October 2010, Pelican raised $10m in its B round from Globespan Capital Partners, Granite Ventures, InterWest Partners and IQT; it raised $7m in series A funding in July 2009 and an undisclosed amount from IQT.
Patrick Suel, venture partner at Panasonic, said: “Pelican’s array camera technology is extremely innovative; they’re pioneering the next generation of video and image capture. We think there are broad applications for depth-enabled imaging in many industries.”
Chris Pickett , Pelican Imaging chief executive officer and president, said: “We’re extremely pleased to add Panasonic to our investor group, which includes other industry leaders like Qualcomm and Nokia. Our relationship with Panasonic will provide further market leverage to bring Pelican’s solutions to multiple market segments.”
Pelican Imaging was founded in 2008.