Peratech, a UK-based startup has secured $31.5 million in the second major funding round led by Dark Matter Partners and anchored by IP-secured debt.
How will it use the investment?
The investment will be used to make using PC products more intuitive, especially in gaming and creative design. The company will use the funds to accelerate profitable revenue growth in proven products using its Quantum Tunnelling Composite (QTC) based force sensing haptic feedback and unique Hydra user-interface software.
Haptic-based user interfaces
The interface of the modern keyboard has barely evolved 150 years on from its origins as a QWERTY typewriter but Peratech is set to bring to market changes that will reverberate across the industry. It was founded in 1996 and led by CEO Jon Stark. Headquartered in North Yorkshire in the UK, it has offices in the USA, China, South Korea, and Stockholm.
Peratech’s proprietary technology combines analogue-like force sensing, consistently clear haptic feedback, and intuitive interface-control software to make PC products and the gaming and creative software that runs on them much easier, more engaging, and more accessible to use.
Next-gen touch/force-sensing solution
The company’s QTC technology has been integrated in over one million devices, in areas such as smartphones, electronic whiteboards, cordless drills and NASA robots. Recent developments in QTC materials allow for an expanded range of application uses, such as automotive controls sensing and next generation consumer/industrial touch solutions.
Currently, QTC materials are custom developed screen-printable inks, in both opaque and clear formulations, printing at only a few microns thick. These new incarnations of the material replace the legacy sheet materials, opening up many new opportunities for the technology as the key enabler.
Applications for QTC are in the consumer electronics, automotive, aerospace, defence, toys and games, mobile telephony, computer and all other markets where 3D touch input is a requirement.
Talking about Hydra, the user interface software adds AI-based user interface intelligence for higher scores, better productivity, and more creativity that a wide range of users can enjoy.
Competition
The company’s competitors include SensTouch, tacterion, and JTouch Corporation, companies that work on touch sensing technologies for various applications.
Peratech has secured commercial launches with leaders in the electronics industry around keyboards, trackpads, and other controllers in the PC and gaming space. It also sells automotive interfaces that eliminate driver distractions and improve customer satisfaction through a safer, more engaging in-cabin environment.
Peratech CEO Jon Stark said: “Our force sensing and haptic feedback technologies not only make industry-leading haptic trackpads and force-enabled keyboards, but our control firmware and software does something that no other user interface product can: it makes the user interfaces intelligent. We use that intelligence to make PCs fundamentally easier, more engaging and more fun to use for every user type—from novices to professional content creators and gamers. This financial injection is a major endorsement to the success we’ve had in making better user experience platforms on Notebooks PCs and Peripherals and enables us to capitalise on our commercial wins and scale up for market share.”
“Peratech has built a unique platform technology, with extremely strong IP foundations. They have proven commercial traction globally in large addressable markets. We believe in the management team and are excited to support their ambitions to scale up. We are also pleased to pioneer the ability of IP to act as the principal collateral in financing the technology leaders of the future,” said Scott Bell, Joint Managing Partner, Dark Matter Partners.
