Scottish tech company PureLiFi has completed an $18 million (£14m) Series B funding round to provide LiFi components to mass-market mobile device manufacturers.
The Edinburgh-based firm said the investment boost will enable it to take advantage of the “massive” market opportunities that LiFi presents and set a benchmark for its use in consumer devices.
Earlier this year at Mobile World Congress, the company announced its move from LiFi systems to components and demonstrated the capability of Gigabit LiFi integrated into a laptop device. Since the announcement, the firm has been working closely with device manufacturers to have LiFi designed into new commercial laptops, tablets and mobile devices.
“Device manufacturers are looking for new ways to provide devices with faster, more reliable and secure connectivity,” pureLiFi CEO Alistair Banham commented. “LiFi is the natural next step in the evolution of global wireless communications and pureLiFi is leading the way to provide this technology to the market.”
Recommended
- Leith-based startup Stampede launches with £1m seed funding
- Scottish entrepreneur launches ‘instant’ HR advice app
- “Do what the Californian’s do”, urges Scotland’s minister for innovation
The funding round includes cash injections from Temasek, a Singapore-headquartered investment firm, as well as the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise.
Banham added: “Our investors believe in our team and our strategy to provide LiFi for every light and every device, and we have the products to support mobile device integration of LiFi.”
LiFi technology uses light-emitting diodes, commonly referred to as ‘LEDs’, to provide high-speed wireless connections rather than through conventional radio waves. LiFi has gathered great industry support in recent years and the technology is currently being standardised globally.
In June this year, a global Light Communications Alliance was formed to develop new use cases and advocate the use of standards within this emerging industry. The consortium of companies was founded by leading brands such as Nokia alongside pureLiFi.
Professor Harald Haas, co-founder and CSO of pureLiFi, said: “After more than a decade of persistent and systematic development of key technologies for wireless communications using light and the demonstration of the almost unlimited capabilities of LiFi for secure gigabit wireless connectivity for many use cases such as machine-to-machine communication, we are now at the precipice of a watershed moment for LiFi.”