Meridian Innovation Secures $6 Million in Funding

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Meridian Innovation Pte Ltd, the pioneer developer of low cost, mass producible thermal sensors, today announced it raised $6 million in its latest round of financing. Alongside existing investor Creative Technology Ltd, Excelpoint's investment arm, PlanetSpark and SEEDS Capital participated in this latest round, bringing the total investment to date in Meridian Innovation to more than $10 million.

This round of investment will further enable and accelerate Meridian's market penetration and product development. In the past 2.5 years since Meridian's start in November 2016, Meridian has grown from 4 employees in a single location to more than 25 employees across 4 locations globally. Meridian is uniquely positioned to address new emerging markets which are rapidly adopting low cost thermal sensors. These emerging markets comprise Smart Appliances, IoT devices, ADAS, AI-assisted Heat Failure Analyzers and Security, and Medical & Safety products. Both investors and customers are embracing Meridian's compelling patented CMOS thermal sensors due to its salient benefits of low power and low cost owing to its mass manufacturable CMOS process.

"Creative has always invested in innovative technology companies that have the potential to transform industries," said Sim Wong Hoo, CEO of Creative Technology. "Meridian Innovation's patented CMOS LWIR sensors can play a major part in bringing a new sensing modality to the consumer market at an affordable price point."

"The market potential for Meridian's thermal sensors is great as it can be incorporated into many commercial and consumer applications, which are synergistic with Excelpoint's focus segments and vast regional distribution network in Asia," said Albert Phuay Yong Hen, Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer of Excelpoint Technology Ltd.

"Meridian's low cost thermal sensors have multiple applications across different sectors. We believe that this innovation can be mass manufactured and will be transformative for many industries worldwide. SEEDS Capital looks forward to the growth of Meridian Innovation. As part of our startup ecosystem, we will continue to support its innovation journey," said Geoffrey Yeo, General Manager of SEEDS Capital. 

"Meridian is honored to have Creative, Excelpoint and SEEDS Capital as investors. We are also excited and privileged to work with such visionaries who are willing to back such disruptive technology with their bold commitment," said Hock Leow, CEO and Co-Founder of Meridian Innovation. "Our recent showings at CES in Las Vegas and Shanghai have garnered many potential global customers. We are committed to constant innovation and rapid deployment of new products to expanding consumer and commercial markets. This week, we will be participating in the MWC Shanghai show and will be demonstrating our Bobcat module working in both Android and iPhone environment. We will be shipping our first generation SenXorTM  device in July."

About Meridian Innovation

Meridian Innovation, headquartered in Singapore, is a pioneering developer of advanced Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) Thermal Imaging solutions with operations also in Hong Kong, USA and UK. Meridian Innovation is committed to the development of cost effective and high-performance Thermal Imaging Sensor-based solutions for commercial and consumer applications that will enable safer and better living. Meridian's technology utilizes a unique patented approach in fabricating MEMS LWIR sensors based on CMOS. Combining a proprietary wafer-level vacuum packaging allows Meridian to produce their sensors at lower cost and mass producible volume.