The financing will be used to bring online a new high-volume manufacturing operation in Sangsong-ri, South Korea, and to continue Imbera’s embedded technology evolution through its R&D activities located in Espoo, Finland. Production at the new South Korean facility is scheduled to begin in Q4 2009. This will mark the next step for Imbera in developing an end-to-end 3-D packaging solution capable of meeting global market demand.

At the core of Imbera’s innovation is its IMB technology, originally developed in the 1990s as a research project at the Helsinki University of Technology. Traditional electronics have all of the electrical components sitting on top of a printed circuit board. The board, used merely as a means of interconnection, has a high percentage of unused space and offers little functionality.

Imbera’s IMB technology embeds electronic components directly inside the PCB, making it "smart" by giving the board two functions - interconnectivity and component functionality. This allows both smaller overall size and improved performance and durability - from cell phones and GPS devices to automotive and medical applications - while reducing costs and maximizing circuit board real estate.

The company’s technology presents benefits in all types of electronics manufacturing, from low-cost applications to highly complex multi-chip modules with a high number of electrical contacts.

"Imbera is empowering and freeing designers of electronic products from the technical and space constraints that have limited their visions in the past, especially when looking at the market for small portable devices," explained Giuseppe Zocco, co-founder and partner of Index Ventures. "Imbera’s IMB technology provides a viable, production-ready solution to enable manufacturing of new generations of mobile phones and other devices that are smaller, thinner and have better performance."

"Imbera has progressed rapidly since we first invested in 2007," said Bjørn Stray, general partner in NorthZone Ventures. "As one of the lead investors in this round of financing, we look forward to continued growth as we deliver the groundbreaking IMB solution to customers through the planned manufacturing facility that we own together with our JV partner, Daeduck Electronics."

Watch this YouTube Video about Imbera 3D Simulation