Psikick powers up with $16.5m

Psikick, a US-based developer of self-powered devices that form part of the internet of things, has raised $16.5m in its series B round from a consortium including Osage University Partners and the Michigan Investment in New Technology Startups (Mints) fund.

Osage University Partners, which invests in companies commercialising university research, and Mints, run by the Business and Finance department at Michigan University, were joined in the series B round by New Enterprise Associates and unnamed angel investors.

Psikick creates technology that enables interconnected devices to avoid the need for power connections or batteries. Instead, a device is powered through ambient sources such as radio frequencies, temperature difference across a chip, indoor and outdoor lighting and vibration to generate energy.

The funding from this round will be used by Psykick to hire more engineers and develop batteryless systems.

In March 2014, Psikick raised an undisclosed amount in its series A round from Osage University Partners and Mints. In June 2015, it raised $1m as a promissory note convertible into equity.

Brendan Richardson, chief executive of Psikick, said: “We solved some pretty big challenges that have limited the reach of internet of things devices and systems. Those building blocks include the world’s most efficient wireless connectivity, robust node computation and energy harvesting to enable a highly scalable batteryless internet of things.”

Marc Singer, managing partner of Osage University Partners, said: “We have been really impressed with Psikick’s technology for some time now. The company’s vision for the next wave of computing and the internet-of-things is incredibly exciting and Psikick’s self-powered wireless sensor systems will be fundamental to achieving the full promise of the internet-of-things.”