Vesper Completes $16M Financing to Accelerate Growth

Vesper, the pioneer in piezoelectric MEMS microphones and sensors that is now empowering edge-AI applications in consumer devices, closed a $18M financing round led by Accomplice. Vesper also received investments from Applied Materials Ventures, Sands Capital, Bose, Amazon Alexa Fund, Gopher Asset Management, ITIC, World Peace Group, Unitrontech, and MegaChips. The round brings Vesper's total funding to date to $73M.

Swedish companies Acconeer, Imagimob and Flexworks decided to join forces in a project to develop gesture-controlled in-ear headphones. Using the profound expertise of the three companies, the project will be a unique combination of research in advanced radar technology, expertise in AI (deep learning) and expertise in designing and manufacturing consumer electronics products. A first working prototype is expected within the first year of the project.

Nanusens, a research venture working on nano-sensors built inside CMOS devices, has announced that its proprietary technology can significantly increase the operational life of earbuds by up to 20%. This can be achieved by replacing the MEMS sensors in an earbud with a single multi-sensor chip solution that is up to ten times smaller, freeing up space for larger batteries. The company will be announcing this technology solution at MWC 2019 in Barcelona, Spain.