US-based lidar technology developer Silc Technologies has completed a $12m seed round led by Dell Technologies Capital, the corporate venturing subsidiary of computing equipment producer Dell.
The round was backed by angel investment firm Decent Capital, an entity called Itic Ventures and multiple unnamed individuals.
Founded in 2018, Silc has devised a lidar sensor that can be fabricated onto a silicon chip that it claims offers superior reflectivity and light polarisation to competing products.
Lidar is a light-based surveying method similar to radar which is used in autonomous vehicles and robotic systems. Silc will invest the capital in its development pipeline and building up its operations.
Daniel Doctor, managing director of Dell Technologies Capital, told VentureBeat cost-effective silicon lidar application was a “holy grail” for the technology, adding: “After looking at more than 30 different lidar companies, we found Silc to be the only company that has a viable approach for large-scale adoption of lidar in automotive and industrial robotics.”