LeddarTech Inc. has raised US $101 million in Series C funding led by OSRAM GmbH with participation of Delphi, Magneti Marelli, Integrated Device Technology, Inc. and Fonds de solidarité FTQ.
LeddarTech previously announced investment by OSRAM GmbH in July, part of larger round of financing to be announced.
The Series C is the largest capital raise to date by LeddarTech. The company has previously raised $9.5 million led by i-Source, BDC Capital, GO Capital LP, Accès Capital, and Desjardins-Innovatech.
[Premium Contents, please Log In or Subscribe]GCA Advisors, LLC acted as sole placement agent for Series C financing.
New funds will allow LeddarTech to enhance its ASIC development efforts, expand its R&D team, and accelerate ongoing LiDAR development programs with select Tier-1 automotive customers for rapid market deployment.
“We are thrilled to welcome such an influential group of companies as strategic investors, with whom we share a common goal of making mobility safer and more efficient,” stated Charles Boulanger, LeddarTech’s CEO. “Their strong endorsement is a testament to the maturity of the Leddar technology and the credibility of our product roadmap to support the ongoing development of autonomous driving. This positions LeddarTech as the definitive reference in solid-state LiDAR and validates our Tier-1 partnership business model to rapidly deploy LiDARs on a commercial scale in automotive applications. We believe this announcement represents a major stepping stone towards achieving market-share leadership in the multibillion-dollar automotive LiDAR market by 2020.”
Said Stefan Kampmann, Chief Technology Officer at OSRAM Licht AG, “As the world’s leading provider of sensor lights for autonomous vehicles, we are very pleased to endorse and participate in the tremendous promise of the Leddar technology alongside this impressive group of key industry players. Our company enjoys a well-established working relationship with LeddarTech and we view their advanced optical sensing technology as highly complementary with Osram’s opto-semiconductor products. Hence, we see the investment in LeddarTech as a unique opportunity to jointly capitalize on the rising demand for solid-state LiDARs.”
LeddarTech is commercializing automotive-grade solid-state LiDARs that meet the industry’s stringent requirements in terms of cost, performance, and reliability. The patented Leddar technology stems from more than a decade of R&D and has been optimized through multiple deployments in different applications. Packaged into LeddarCore integrated circuits (ICs) and standard microcontrollers, Leddar’s light wave digital signal processing and powerful software algorithms generate significantly higher sensitivity than other LiDAR methods. This enhanced sensitivity allows LeddarTech to achieve the automotive industry’s targeted performance levels using more affordable, readily available components, as well as simple, robust sensor designs with no moving parts. LeddarTech works in close collaboration with Tier-1 automotive suppliers to offer customized LiDAR solutions that meet the unique requirements of each current or prospective OEM, fleet and mobility service provider customer.
“Delphi aims to be at the forefront of autonomous driving developments and LiDAR is a key component thereof,” said Glen De Vos, Delphi Automotive senior vice president and chief technology officer. “We are delighted to partner with LeddarTech to leverage its innovative and proprietary signal processing technology to rapidly commercialize low-cost, high-performing LiDARs.”
Said Pietro Gorlier, CEO of Magneti Marelli, “Our investment in LeddarTech, with its proven and proprietary competence in solid-state LiDAR sensors, provides Magneti Marelli with the opportunity to partner with a technology leader with key expertise in the strategic sector of autonomous driving systems.”
Said Mario Montana, Vice President and General Manager of IDT Automotive and Industrial Group, “Our investment in LeddarTech cements the strong technology relationship between our two companies. LeddarTech’s deep systems knowledge in solid-state LIDAR, combined with IDT’s automotive sensor technology leadership, creates a powerful solution for the autonomous driving market.”
photo credit: LedderTech