Tactus Technology, a US-based developer and maker of on-demand tactile surfaces, has closed the first portion of its series B funding round, with new investor, Japan-based electronics supplier Ryoyo Electric Corporation (Tokyo) and other, unspecified financial investors in Asia joining existing investors, including Thomvest Ventures, in the round.
Previously, in December 2011, Tactus closed $6m in series A funding led by Thomvest Ventures. As part of the series B round, Ryoyo will become the exclusive sales partner and distributor for Tactus components and display technology subsystems in Japan.
The funding will be use to finance mass volume product shipment.
Dr. Craig Ciesla, CEO and co-founder of Tactus, said: “We are pleased by the validation from our new Asian investors of the progress we’ve made in the critical geographies for any panel-based technology. Ryoyo and our other Asian investors have chosen to invest in Tactus as they see the market potential across the industry chain with a large part of the transactional value focused in Asia.”
Jonathan Barker, Venture Partner at Thomvest and a Board member of Tactus, said: “We are excited to be leading this funding round for Tactus as we see the company continue to penetrate the mobile and CE device markets. This fact along with Tactus’ growing IP portfolio of 17 granted patents, and more than 45 patent applications still on file has reinforced our positive outlook for this revolutionary technology.”