Trigence Semiconductor, Inc.
Intel Capital is committed to investing in innovative companies like Trigence that are creating the technologies inside smart and connected devices to power data explosion.
TOKYO (PRWEB) April 13, 2018
Trigence, a leading supplier of Digital Speakers to the PC and handheld consumer markets has closed its Series C financing, which was led by MIYAKO Capital with participation from existing investors including Intel Capital.
This brings the pioneers of direct digital drive speakers’ total funding to over $20 million, and will help Trigence accelerate further adoption of its Digital Speaker Modules as the leader in audio fidelity for portable devices.
“Trigence’s ground-breaking work in the field of Digital Speakers is delivering the benefits of simplified architectures and power supply requirements, longer battery life and improved audio experiences. Customers can now utilize a single component that connects direct to the host processor, and fully optimizes the audio quality across the electro-mechanical boundaries of the acoustic system, in order to deliver improvements in the end user experience. Traditionally the transducer and driving electronics in the audio subsystem were designed independently with little knowledge of the other component. Digital Speakers offer a new paradigm where all elements are designed in concert for the best possible auditory performance,” said Pete Birch, President and CEO of Trigence, a Tokyo headquartered company.
“Digital Speakers not only deliver better quality audio, but also reduce active power consumption over legacy solutions. Going forward, we are now also looking to incorporate microphones into our speakers, to open up the possibility for true Edge-AI Audio Interface Modules (AiMTM). These solutions will minimize power consumption by allowing the rest of the system to be in deep sleep, with only the Edge-AI functionality active until necessary. Think of it as a full function miniaturized smart-speaker on the periphery of the system,” continued Birch.
“Intel Capital is committed to investing in innovative companies like Trigence that are creating the technologies inside smart and connected devices to power data explosion,” said Anthony Lin, Vice President of Intel Capital and Managing Director of Greater Asia and Europe. “We look forward to continuing to support Trigence in developing IA-based products that deliver the best user experiences along with improved efficiency and functionalities.”
Based on Trigence’s patented Dnote® processing technology, Digital Speakers unlock the many benefits of using multiple voice-coils within a transducer. The voice coils are driven using only digital logic, with the transducer itself operating as a high-quality D-to-A converter. This means that High- Resolution audio performance is maintained throughout the signal path from source direct to the listener.
“We are extremely pleased to be able to lead Trigence’s Series C financing round,” commented Tsunesaburo Sugaya, Managing Director and Partner with MIYAKO Capital. “The work Trigence has done in this field is innovation at its best. We hope that, along with the other investors, we can work to aid them in substantially growing their business to become the dominant player in consumer audio. The company has immense knowledge, not only of digital audio, but uniquely of the whole acoustic system.”
Both Supreme Electronics Co., Ltd. and MIRAI SOUZOU (Innovation and Future Creation Inc.) were also participants in this funding round.
About Trigence
Trigence Semiconductor, Inc. is a pioneering audio IC design and solution provider, offering revolutionary ‘pure digital’ audio products for the consumer and IT markets. Founded in 2006 as a spin-off from Hosei University and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Trigence received its first investment in 2012 from Intel Capital. Other subsequent investors include MIYAKO Capital Co., Ltd, Supreme Group, Innovations and Future Creation Inc.(MIRAI SOUZOU), Nittoku Engineering CO., LTD. and TDK Corporation. Its revolutionary Dnote® pure digital audio system has been widely used in computers, headphones, soundbars, smart speakers, CAR audio system and other audio products. Its customers include Intel, Audio-Technica, SHARP, Clarion and other leading consumer electronics manufacturers.
Website: http://www.trigence.com
About Intel Capital
Intel Capital invests in innovative startups targeting artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, workload accelerators, 5G connectivity, merged reality and a wide range of other disruptive technologies. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested US $12.2 billion in 1,520 companies worldwide, and more than 650 portfolio companies have gone public or been acquired. For more information on what makes Intel Capital one of the world’s most powerful venture capital firms, visit http://www.intelcapital.com or follow @Intelcapital.
About MIYAKO Capital Co., Ltd
Boutique independent venture capital firm, closely affiliated with Kyoto University, with $70M under management. The sectors of focus are information/communication technology, life science and biotech, agricultural food, and environment and energy. Offices located in Kyoto, Tokyo, and Palo Alto, US.
About Supreme Electronics Co., Ltd.
After more than 20 years of great efforts to Supreme Group business, staff increasingly and more than 300 employees locate at Taiwan and abroad. Based on professional team, strong financial structure and solid logistics support, diversify the group to innovation, and valued solution leader in the field. Although the ruthless challenges from severe business environment, products life cycle increasingly shortened, diversified the needs from customer, market uncertainty etc…, "Supreme Group" still moving forward on steady step by years established base, towards the bright future with the leading of excellent management team.
About Innovations and Future Creation Inc. (MIRAI SOUZOU)
Innovations and Future Creation Inc. (MIRAI SOUZOU) is a technology focused venture capital firm associated with Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech).
*Dnote® is a trademark of Trigence Semiconductor in the United States and other countries.
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