Wiliot is developing a wireless technology that will eliminate a reliance on batteries or wired power to vastly accelerate the Internet of Things.
As reported in Globes:
Israeli fabless semiconductor startup Wiliot has closed a $19 million Series A financing round with $5 million in investments from Qualcomm Ventures, and Merck KGaA’s M Ventures. In January when the company was founded, Wiliot raised $14 million from Grove Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and 83North Venture Capital.Wiliot is developing a wireless technology that will eliminate a reliance on batteries or wired power to vastly accelerate the Internet of Things with the vision of creating a world of “Smart Everything.”The new technology, which powers itself by harvesting energy from radio waves, enables a sensor as small as a fingernail, as thin as a sheet of paper, and an order of magnitude reduction in price and cost of maintenance.Wiliot CEO and cofounder Tal Tamir said, “This new technology will allow a sensor/radio/processor combination to be embedded in products, packaging, walls and furniture so that these things can be smarter and communicate with other Bluetooth devices, including smartphones. We will enable everything to be intelligent and every place we go and anything we wear, touch or use will include sensing, connected, passive devices with an unlimited lifetime.” The possible applications are wide-ranging in scope, including but not limited to connected packaging and products such as apparel, more accurate indoor location and affordable Real Time Location Systems that will revolutionize asset tracking.”
“Wiliot’s passive semiconductor technology under development could disrupt the marketplace, highlighting the vast potential of passive Bluetooth’s low cost, size and long-term cost of ownership in a variety of applications,” said Samuel McLaughlin, Research Analyst, ABI Research.
With proof of concepts scheduled to start in the second half of 2018, and a delivery to market date in early 2019, Wiliot’s technology will strive to revolutionize the current Bluetooth beacon marketplace which after more than five years has reached a floor on reductions in cost, size and ease of maintenance that have hindered their widespread adoption.
Wiliot was formed by a group of wireless engineers experienced in building new products and the ecosystems required for their success. The group’s previous start-up, Wilocity, was acquired by Qualcomm in 2014 and was a Gigabit Wi-Fi pioneer, pushing the boundaries in terms of power consumption and connectivity.
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