Finnish stretchable electronics company finds new investors

Finnish technology start-up company Forciot has announced that Heraeus Holding GmbH and Volvo Cars’ Technology fund AB have made investments in the company as part of the Forciot’s Series A investment round.

Forciot’s product is a stretchable electronics and algorithm solution that measures and accurately reports force, weight, balance and pressure. The system can for instance be utilised as HMI touch controller. This Investment will allow Forciot to broaden its international business entry and supply chain operations, the company states in a press release. “Stretchable electronics and sensor technology are a future growth market for Heraeus. Our investment in Forciot allows us to open up this market even more and to continue to learn, and it supports our growing electronics and sensor technology areas.”, says Dr. Frank Stietz, head of the Heraeus’ Business Area Electronics, in the release. “At Volvo Cars we see potentials in Forciot’s technologies that can be used for next-generation car interiors. These technologies could be the base for new features that would offer innovative safety and comfort improvements”, says Andreas Strasser, Investment Director at Volvo Cars. In addition to the automotive sector, Forciot also see a place for its technology among logistics and wearable manufacturers that need advanced stretchable sensor solutions. “We are thrilled to have closed the Series A investment round with such great companies. Both, Heraeus and Volvo Cars, have admirable track record in innovation and both are operating in Forciot’s strategic business and learning areas.”, says Tytti Julkunen, Forciot Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board. “This investment enables us to scale up Forciot operations further to prepare for the mass volume phase and supports greatly also our global sales, marketing and technology development growth plans.”, says Maria Alm, Forciot Co-Founder and CEO.

The cooperation between Elmos Semiconductor AG and Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems (IMS) in Duisburg will end on June 30, 2020 in accordance with the agreed contract period, despite Elmos wishes to continue.

Exxelia, a Paris-headquartered designer and manufacturer of high-rel passive components and sub-systems for extreme environments announced the completion of its late-2019 acquisition of Micropen Technologies Corporation.

Video and display processing solutions provider Pixelworks Inc. has opened a new engineering center in Shenzen, China.

Jenoptik is strengthening its position as a full-service provider of automated manufacturing solutions via the acquisition of Spanish company INTEROB. The contract was signed on January 25th and is expected to close in the coming weeks. The purchase price was slightly less than twice the revenue in 2019.

Certain subsidiaries of Broadcom have entered into two separate multi-year statement of work agreements with Apple Inc.

TowerJazz, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (KPI), the national technical university of Ukraine, and Cadence Design Systems, are collaborating to open a new analog circuit design lab in Ukraine.

The semiconductor manufacturer reported 2019 fourth quarter new revenues of USD 2.75 billion, gross margin of 39.3%, operating margin of 16.7% and new income of USD 392 million.

The automotive supplier Harman apparently wants to stick to its plans and close the plant in Straubing (Germany). Between 625 and 700 jobs are affected.

Camtek says it has received orders for 34 systems for 2D inspection of CMOS image sensors from five different manufacturers, of which 25 are from two customers.

Next Biometrics' CFO, Knut Stålen, will step down from his position on the last day of February 2020. Knut Stålen has been with NEXT Biometrics since 2014.

Foxconn Technology Group and Heraeus have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a strategic cooperation within the space of 5G.

BAE Systems has reached definitive agreements for the proposed acquisitions of Collins Aerospace’s military Global Positioning System (GPS) business and Raytheon’s Airborne Tactical Radios (ATR) business.