Jan 21 2014
The Montreal start-up firm Motion Engine, Inc., a member of the MiQro Innovation Collaborative Centre (C2MI), has completed a seed stage round of financing totaling approximately $ 1 million to continue the development of its proprietary next-generation motion sensing enabled systems technology. Angel investors from Canada, the United States and Asia participated in the round.
The company also has successfully received financial support for the development of its inertial sensor technology and related intellectual property of $150,000. The IP commercialization funding is being provided by the C2MI through the Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) program which has been established in order to play an important role in the development and commercialization of leading edge technologies that support the growth of the Canadian economy.
The founding president of Motion Engine, Louis Ross, is pleased to have reached the company's current stage of development in less than a year. "We have chosen to settle in Quebec as it will clearly become an international center for the development of MEMS/microsystems and related software applications, especially in regard to motion-sensing enabled systems. A key enabler is the presence of a major research center for MEMS/microsystems - C2MI- which is becoming one of the world's leading microsystems/MEMS R&D development facilities. The rise in smart phone usage and the growth of wearable electronics will represent the next wave of MEMS inertial sensor growth and will demand more robust, smaller, more integrated MEMS." The company's proprietary technology promises to lead to an unprecedented cost, size, and function combination with the robustness to address several large-volume market segments. It also provides a platform to develop more complex electronics systems that incorporate a variety of MEMS and circuits.
In partnership with C2MI that supports innovations
C2MI, located in Bromont, Quebec, is in the heart of a technological park which includes such companies as IBM, Teledyne/DALSA and Cogiscan. As a Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) in Canada, its purpose is to enable its members to promote the growth of the microelectronics industry through the support of the development of leading-edge technologies and accelerated commercialization of prototypes based on the needs of the market. The CECR program focuses on bringing innovations by Canada's world-class researchers to global markets more swiftly. Centres of excellence, such as C2MI, play a decisive role in identifying projects with strong commercial potential.
"We are convinced that the Motion Engine project will be nurtured by input from the full ecosystem provided by the Centre," says Normand Bourbonnais, President and CEO of C2MI. "The MEMS development project presented by Motion Engine will benefit from a tremendous springboard for growth through the integrated supply chain among C2MI members. We firmly believe that Motion Engine's project will enable it not only to carve out a space and grow but also to break through and develop a new Canadian market segment. Spinoffs from this project will be substantial for the region and will provide Canada with unique global visibility."
About Collaborating Centre for Innovation MiQro
The MiQro Innovation Collaborative Center (C2MI) is an international reference in the fields of advanced packaging and microsystems. The C2MI is a centre of excellence for commercialization and research (CECR) whose role is to help produce market-driven prototypes in the fields of applications of the information and communication technologies, automobile, aerospace as well as environment and health to accelerate their commercialization. The establishment of C2MI was made possible by contributions from Industry Canada, the ministère du Développement économique, de l'Innovation et de l'Exportation du Québec, Université de Sherbrooke, industrial partners and the Town of Bromont. Visit www.c2mi.ca.
About Motion Engine, Inc.
Founded in Montreal in 2013, Motion Engine Inc. (MEI) is a fabless MEMS device company specializing in the development and commercialization of motion sensing enabling devices and systems and related applications. It is the only Canadian manufacturer of commercial-grade inertial sensors. MEI is also a pioneer in the next generation of the encapsulation of MEMS technology, which allows it to reduce the size and cost of current microsystems while increasing their performance. MEI is also working with several partners to develop products and systems for motion detection in specialized market. www.motionengineinc.com