Robert Bosch Venture Capital (RBVC), the corporate venturing unit of the Germany-based consumer technology and automotive parts conglomerate, on Monday helped Germany-based near-field communication company Ident raise €7.1m ($10m).
The round was joined by Danube Equity, the Austria-based corporate venturing unit formed by the steel corporation Voestalpine and the 3-Banken Group, a fund belonging to three banks, and venture capital firm MIG Funds.
MIG and Danube made an investment in Ident, reported by electronics industry newspaper EE Times as $4.1m, in April this year, though it is unclear whether this is included in the amount quoted yesterday. Both are long term investors in Ident.
Dieter Kraft, investment partner at RBVC, said: "We are impressed by Ident’s technological and commercial achievements, and by the spirit and capabilities of the team. We are convinced that their solutions will make groundbreaking contributions to the user interface world and are happy to support their mission."
Founded in 2002, Ident licenses its three-dimensional electric field sense technology to semiconductor and other electronics equipment manufacturers so users can control the equipment using gestures such as the wave of a hand. Ident will use the capital to support further growth as well as the introduction of its GestlC microchip in 2012.
