Wi-Fi Sensor Firm Detects $20M

by Ken Schachter on 19 December 2007, 15:01

Categories: Archives - General news - Communications - Finance
Topics: intel , sensors , Sigma Partners , wifi , opus capital , Carl Showalter , GainSpan , OVP

 

GainSpan, an Intel spinoff whose technology promises battery life of up to a decade for Wi-Fi sensors, has raised $20 million in a series B funding round, the company said Wednesday.

Opus Capital led the latest funding round and was joined by prior investors Intel Capital, New Venture Partners, OVP Venture Partners, and Sigma Partners.

GainSpan plans to use the funding to expand sales and marketing in emerging markets and to develop new products.

GainSpan, spun off by Intel in September 2006, puts Wi-Fi, or wireless fidelity, sensor systems on a chip that it says can run as long as a decade on a single AA battery.

Lengthy battery life opens up a raft of potential applications such as sensors that can monitor air quality, retail assets, vehicle traffic, electricity consumption, location of goods, and temperatures and pressures in industrial equipment.

The GainSpan system allows the sensors on the 802.11 networks to slumber as a means of conserving battery power.

Joining the Sunnyvale, California, company as a member of the board of directors is Carl Showalter, general partner at Opus.

Opus, based in Menlo Park, California, was an investor in Internet advertising firm DoubleClick, fiber-optic communications firm Ciena, and networking gear provider Brocade.