The deal marks the first time that Alta Innovations has made a commitment through its Spinout Investment Fund.
Smart Antenna Technologies, a spinout of Birmingham University developing an antenna for smartphones and laptops, received £1m ($1.2m) in funding today from investors including the Spinout Investment Fund.
The £5m seed fund was allocated by the university to Alta Innovations, the institution’s tech transfer office, last year and first revealed in Global University Venturing’s profile of the TTO in April. It provides match-funding to spinouts
The deal is the first investment made by the fund. James Wilkie, chief executive of Alta Innovations, confirmed to GUV last month that a second investment is forthcoming in the near future.
Smart Antenna Technologies, spun out in 2013, is developing an antenna that combines wifi, Bluetooth, GPS as well as 4G and 5G technologies. Currently, these require separate antennae in mobile devices, each reducing battery life, taking up space and adding to the overall cost.
The company was founded by Sampson Hu, who developed the technology during his PhD research at Birmingham University, with the assistance of Alta Innovations.
The money will enable the spinout to hire additional engineering staff and conclude product development with an unnamed industry partner.
James Wilkie said: “The technology developed by Smart Antenna has attracted substantial interest and we believe this is an exciting time to invest.”
