Richmond, North Yorkshire, UK – 23 October 2017. Peratech, a world leader in 3D force-sensing technologies, announced it has subscribed $12.4 million (£9.2 million) to the round of funding, led by Merck Ventures the venture capital wing of Merck, along with Arie Capital and existing investors.
This investment sends a clear signal of confidence in Peratech’s proprietary Quantum Tunnelling Composite (QTC®) technology to enable more intuitive and safe human-machine interfaces (HMI), while reducing accidental or false touches.
Sven Harmsen, Investment Director with Merck Ventures said, “Leading Peratech’s round of financing underlines Merck Ventures’ ambition to invest in game-changing materials innovations. We are excited to see Peratech develop and commercialise a technology that has the potential to disrupt the way we use touch sensing in the mobile, automotive, industrial, and medical device markets. The timing is right as leading OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] in these markets are starting to deploy innovative HMIs utilising force and 3D touch. Peratech’s technology is ready for commercial use and it can further scale its product engineering and manufacturing.”
Simon Tobelem, Founder at Arie Capital, agreed saying, “We are impressed with the talented team, strong IP portfolio, and variety of potential applications for QTC technology. Our investment in Peratech aligns with our core components for communication and mobile technologies such as IoT connectivity and gesture recognition chips. This round provides the company with enough resources to better address these markets where its 3D force-touch technology has the potential to be very disruptive.”
“The strong financial backing from our new and current investors enables Peratech to accelerate new-product integration for market leaders in a variety of applications.” said Jon Stark, Peratech’s CEO. “This investment also gives us the bandwidth not only to commercialise current solutions, but to complete development of transparent and higher-resolution sensor technologies with new deposition modalities for a wider range of next-generation human-machine experiences.”
