Aceinna, a developer of anistropic magnetoresistive (AMR) magnetic sensing products for current sensing, backed by $50 million in new funding, has spun out from its roots in Memsic to become a fast-growing player in sensing technology.
Its inertial measurement unit sensing technology is used to provide navigation and guidance to autonomous vehicles from self-driving cars and trucks to automated material handling solutions used in warehouses and factories. The company focuses on developing new sensing solutions for high volume artificial intelligence applications such as autonomous vehicles, high performance computing systems, and smart buildings.
Its devices feature bi-directional current sensing through a fully isolated low impedance current path and can be easily scaled for small or large current ranges, the company said. The company provides current sensors that are based on AMR technology. In September, Aceinna launched an open source IMU development kit for drones, robots and automatic guided vehicles featuring the companys 9-Axis gyro, accelerometer, and magnetometer sensor suite.
Over the last two years, it has achieved more than 70% annual growth and expects this to continue in the future, the company said. It is based in Andover, MA.
By leveraging our years of successful MEMS development and manufacturing experience, our innovative IMU technologies will enable us to provide this technology for under $200 per unit, greatly accelerating the acceptance of autonomous vehicles worldwide, said Dr. Yang Zhao, CEO. We predict that within five years, IMU-based navigation technology for autonomous vehicles will be a billion-dollar market.
In late 2017, Memsic Inc., a leading sensor integrated circuit, MEMS and solutions provider, finalized a transaction that involved the sale of its consumer sensor business, including its magnetometer and accelerometer products, along with the MEMSIC brand.
The original Memsic ownership, management team, and board of directors created a new company, Aceinna, to focus on the development of its higher growth, higher value product lines including inertial navigation systems, medical flow sensors, and current sensors. In early 2018, Aceinna finalized a start-up investment of approximately $50 million from the company founders and IDG Capital, Chinas largest investment group which manages a near $20 billion fund.
This transaction not only raised significant capital, but enabled us to now focus on the product lines where we see the best opportunity for growth and margin, said Zhao, who is also the founder of Memsic.
The acquiring company, HC SemiTek, intends to have the Memsic components business operate independently and is investing over $100 million dollars to fuel its continuous growth into a major, international manufacturer of multiple MEMS sensors used in a wide range of consumer, automotive and industrial products, he said. According to Mike Horton, Aceinnas CTO, the standalone magnetic sensor line of business went to HC Semitek which still sells the products under the Memsic brand. HC SemiTek is based in Wuhan, China.
To learn more, visit https://www.aceinna.com/
