Qualtre Gains $10M in Funding With Demonstration of First Silicon MEMS BAW Gyroscope

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., July 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumer electronics focused motion sensor supplier, Qualtre Inc., announced that with their successful demonstration of the world's first tri-axial solid-state silicon BAW (bulk-acoustic wave) gyroscope, their investors have injected an additional $10M in capital.  The new funding will enable the company's product launch, expansion of sales and supply chain infrastructure, and development of next-generation products based on their proprietary HARPSS™ MEMS process. Participating institutional venture capital investors in this round are Matrix Partners and Pilot House Ventures.

"With the tremendous adoption of motion sensing across multiple consumer electronics platforms, the market opportunity is growing exponentially. We are excited to increase our investment in the Qualtre team, enabling them to accelerate the productization of their innovative technology and gain rapid market penetration," said Stan Reiss, a General Partner with Matrix Partners.

MEMS gyroscopes are driving a new boom in the motion sensing market.  Yole Developpement recently updated their growth projections forecasting a market expanding to over $1.5 billion for MEMS gyroscopes in consumer electronic applications by 2015.  With the adoption in new platforms, like tablets and smart TV remote controls, the applications continue to expand and excite the users with new fun and desirable experiences.

"Since expanding our engineering team and qualifying our partner network, we have made tremendous progress in the commercialization of our motion sensor technology," explained Edgar Masri, CEO of Qualtre. "We are now providing engineering samples to our lead customers and beginning to show the unique performance attributes of our solid-state sensor design."

About Qualtre, Inc.

Founded in 2008, Qualtre is a venture-backed company commercializing the next generation of solid-state silicon MEMS motion sensor solutions for consumer electronics. Qualtre's innovation addresses the real challenges of the consumer electronics market, by combining the performance advantages of the BAW sensor design and the cost and size scalability of the HARPSS™ process to deliver the best value in inertial sensors for demanding consumer applications. The company's product development efforts build upon years of research conducted by its founder and Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Farrokh Ayazi, at Georgia Tech's renowned Integrated MEMS Laboratory. The company is headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts. More information can be found at www.qualtre.com.

About Matrix Partners

Matrix Partners is a premier venture capital firm that has generated outstanding returns for over three decades. The firm has delivered several of the industry's top performing funds of all time. Matrix Partners has offices in Waltham, MA; New York, NY; Palo Alto, CA; Mumbai, India; and Beijing and Shanghai, China. The firm has been fortunate to have invested in game-changing, industry-leading businesses such as Apple Computer, Sandisk, Veritas, Sycamore Networks, Phone.com, Starent Networks, JBoss and Gilt Groupe. www.matrixpartners.com

About Pilot House Ventures

Pilot House Ventures is a Boston, Massachusetts-based venture capital firm that invests in promising early stage technology companies, including enterprise software, network infrastructure, internet, and communications companies. The company looks for outstanding entrepreneurs who are building companies with high growth potential that will be true partners throughout the lifecycle of the company.  Pilot House operates with a team approach to help their portfolio companies be successful, with multiple members of the team involved in advising all portfolio companies on strategic decisions to drive growth.  The Pilot House Ventures team also taps into its extensive networks to support its portfolio companies with resources for customer acquisition, business development, partnerships, marketing strategy, technology development and management and Board development. www.pilothouseventures.com

SOURCE Qualtre, Inc.