The Edinburgh spinout, which uses LED light to wirelessly transmit data, has attracted series B capital from a consortium led by Temasek, the investment arm of Singapore's government.
Edinburgh University celebrated another success on Friday with its spinout PureLifi, a company that uses LED light as an alternative to wifi, securing approximately £7m ($9.2m) in a series B round led by Temasek.
Remaining investors in the round have not been named.
PureLifi, an embodiment of the success of Edinburgh‘s commercialisation activities, was founded in 2012 and is based on research by Harald Haas, professor of mobile communications at the institution.
The company has created technology that transmits data wirelessly using LED lights. The system changes the intensity of the lights to achieve this high-speed connection without a wifi or mobile phone data signal. The pulses are not noticeable to the human eye.
Haas previously demonstrated the technology at a TED talk, revealing that data is transmitted successfully even if the light is partially obscured.
The series B capital will be used by PureLifi to commercialise the technology.
To date, the company has worked with corporates such as networking equipment manufacturer Cisco and LED producer Lucibel. It has also completed the development of its mobile dongle, Lifi-X, on the back of which it was able to secure this latest funding.
PureLifi previously obtained £1.5m in December 2014, led by angel syndicate London and Scottish Investment Partners, with participation from Old College Capital, the VC arm of Edinburgh University, and Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise, a non-departmental public body of Scotland’s government.
GUV also reported a $2m funding round for PureLifi ahead of the Mobile World Congress 2016, though it appears that money actually formed part of the series B round.
Haas said: “I am absolutely delighted that this significant step for PureLiFi has been achieved towards unlocking the grand lifi vision.”
Harald Burchardt, chief operating officer of PureLiFi, said: “I am extremely proud that PureLiFi and our team have managed to deliver the technological and strategic basis for lifi, and am truly excited about the strong partnership with Temasek and other strategic partners in our journey forward.”