InvenSense Inc., (San Jose, Calif.), a fabless supplier of inertial MEMS sensors and MEMS microphones, has struck a deal to acquire sensor-hub firmware and software company Movea SA (Grenoble, France). InvenSense has also agreed to buy Trusted Positioning Inc. (Calgary, Alberta), a privately-held indoor-outdoor positioning software company. InvenSense is set to pay $81 million for the two software firms.
InvenSense’s move comes on the same day that voice and audio chip company Audience Inc. announced it would be buying Sensor Platforms Inc. for $41 million.
Movea was founded in 2007 and has developed sensor-hub software and firmware that gathers data from an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer and pressure sensor. But using the sensor inputs in aggregate Movea turns that data into information on 3D orientation and movement. Movea is supplying support software for both Android and Windows applications and has been working with InvenSense for a couple of years as well as with STMicroelectronics, amongst others.
Movea’s technology and IP cover a range of signal processing and data fusion applications in smartphones and tablet computers, TV interaction and wearable sports and fitness applications. Trusted Positioning’s software uses data from inertial sensors and pressure sensors to augment satellite positioning and Wi-Fi location data in mobile and wearable devices.
The combination of technologies from InvenSense, Movea and Trusted Positioning is expected to enhance InvenSense’s ability to provide low power “always-on” solutions for mobile equipment and the Internet of Things, InvenSense said.
As independent companies Movea and Trusted Positioning provided their software to multiple customers. It remains unclear whether that business strategy will continue. The expectation is that over time their software will essentially become an InvenSense internal resource that appears only in InvenSense hardware-software platforms.
“The combination of Movea’s strong product and patent portfolios with InvenSense’s industry leading motion and sound SoC solutions will bring value to customers by reducing risk, cost and time-to-market as they deliver compelling new features that differentiate their products and deliver more end-user value,” said Sam Guilaumé, CEO of Movea, in a statement from InvenSense.
The boards of directors of InvenSense and the two companies have approved the mergers. The transactions are expected to close by the end of InvenSense’s second quarter, September 30, 2014 and remains subject to the satisfaction of regulatory requirements and other customary closing conditions.
