Archive : 27 October 2015 год

While there seems to be a lack of enthusiasm when it comes to spending money on R&D in the UK, that’s not the case when it comes to investing in start ups. According to Venture Pulse Q3 2015 – a recent report from KPMG and CB Insights – the UK remains Europe’s ‘hot spot’, attracting 29% of what the company calls the ‘new normal’ of $3billion in funding a quarter. However, the amount invested in the UK has dropped back and is at its lowest for five quarters.

Globally, Q3 2015 saw 1799 deals relating to VC backed companies, with a total of $37.6bn invested. Regionally, there were 1076 US deals ($20.3bn), 313 European deals ($3.5bn) and 373 deals in Asia, which raised $13.5bn.

According to KPMG Enterprise, Q3 2015 was an ‘exciting time’ for many regions. While the volume of deals was lower than in Q2, VC backed investments so far this year are 11% higher than all such investments in 2014 and almost double the level of investment in 2013. ‘All in all’, says the report, ‘Q3 was a quarter for big, big deals. Less so for seed-stage and Angel financing, both of which were down for the fifth consecutive quarter on a global basis. Only Europe bucked the downward trend in Q3, with a small increase in seed-stage deals compared to last quarter’.

Perhaps not surprisingly, internet and mobile focused start ups grabbed investors’ attention, claiming more than two thirds of all deals. Internet related start ups represented 49% of investments, with mobile related taking an 18% share. Technology companies are still holding investors’ interest, with 77% of Q3 deals, compared to 12% healthcare and 12% ‘other’.

An interesting finding in the report is that corporates are continuing to back start ups. According to the statistics, 26% of all deals in the quarter featured money from such organisations; a figure which has remained fairly constant over the last year.

There has also been a rise in what KPMG calls ‘mega rounds’. So far in 2015, there have been more than 170 financing rounds in which more than $100m was raised and 23 of these investments have been in European companies.

“Everyone is chasing really large deals,” said Francois Chadwick, national tax leader for KPMG’s venture capital practice in the US. “It’s the herd mentality. Those that are coming in late suddenly feel like they’ve been left out, not invited to the party, and they now need to buy the really expensive ticket to get into the party.”

Another apparent reflection of the ‘herd mentality’ has been the growth in the number of so called ‘unicorns’ – companies valued at more than $1bn. KPMG says 46 have been added in the last two quarters.

One of the highlights of Q3 2015 in the UK was a number of big investments in healthcare related companies. ‘From biotech to medical devices’, says the report, ‘all aspects of healthcare appear to be on the UK VC investment radar’.

VC backed companies in Europe have raised a total of $10.1bn in the first three quarters of 2015, with 990 deals struck. Q3 was also the third in a row where more than $3bn was invested, with the investment of $3.5bn representing the highest amount for almost five years. And KPMG sees the trend continuing, with interest in more high tech companies.

“We believe that we will see a renaissance of high tech engineering products, of hardware products and of the Internet of Things in Europe and, in particular, in Germany, in the near future,” said Tim Dümichen, a partner in KPMG Germany. “It is a sleeping giant that has already started to wake.”

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

Mentor Graphics has updated the Embedded Nucleus real time operating system (RTOS) with the addition of ARM TrustZone technology to support designs based on Cortex-A processors. The latest release also includes support for low power, resource constrained IoT devices with 6LoWPAN and IEEE802.15.4 wireless connectivity.

“Nucleus RTOS support for ARM TrustZone provides system developers with the ability to meet the highest levels of safety and security for critical applications for heterogeneous OS-based systems,” claimed Scot Morrison, general manager of runtime solutions, Mentor Graphic Embedded Systems Division. “ARM TrustZone isolates the general purpose operating system, bare metal or Nucleus RTOS in the normal world from the secure application running in Nucleus RTOS in the secure world.”

According to Mentor, Nucleus RTOS with ARM TrustZone makes it possible to secure peripherals and applications selectively for system isolation to meet safety and security requirements.

Nucleus RTOS enables the development of IoT devices with 6LoWPAN to allow the low power exchange of data using TCP, UDP, CoAP transport protocols with compatible application layer security protocols such as DTLS. For low power devices, embedded IoT developers can use 6LoWPAN over IEEE802.15.4 wireless communication.

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

CEVA has introduced a silicon-based DSP development platform to accelerate the deployment of ‘smart and connected’ devices. The platform incorporates a wealth of processing, connectivity, sensing and application software which are the building blocks for prototyping IoT devices.

The platform is built around a power-optimised CEVA-TeakLite-4 DSP and subsystem implemented in silicon through collaboration with SMIC who fabricated it at their IoT-centric 55nmLP process. Running at 500MHz, the DSP provides designers with a means to add ‘smart and connected’ capabilities to these devices, including always-on sensing, local processing and intelligence and connectivity. The platform also provides real-time power measurement that allows developers to optimise and power-tune their DSP software.

“Developing diverse IoT applications for the mobile, wearable, and smarthome markets require highly integrated development platforms that combine sensing, processing, and connectivity capabilities,” said Moshe Sheier, director of strategic marketing at CEVA.

CEVA and its partners also offer audio, voice and sensing software and applications for the CEVA-TeakLite-4 DSP, including Sensory’s always-on voice activation and speech recognition, NXP Software’s multi-microphone noise reduction, Cypher’s neural-network based voice isolation technology, Cywee Motion sensor-fusion algorithms and more than 100 other software functions.

Author
Tom Austin-Morgan

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

Premier EDA Solutions has been awarded the Investment in Young People mark for its commitment to assisting the transition of young people from education into employment.

The work has been in process since 2011, when Philip Mayo, managing director of Premier EDA Solutions, started a youth development programme. The programme initially sponsored eight Year 11 students to attend residential university taster courses in engineering related subjects. This grew to 22 students and Premier now works with four local secondary schools. It offers six placements each year and has so far provided work experience to 15 students, with age and skill appropriate electronics projects providing them with a taste of the essential skills required for electronics design.

Derek Kozel, director of development, Investment in Young People, said: “The youth development programme by Premier is impressive and shows considerable effort in effectively preparing young people for the world of work. They are providing them with valuable skills that will assist their transition from education into the workplace.”

Mayo added: “Despite being a small company, we realised that with some planning, we can help connect young people with electronics at key stages in their skills development. We’re already seeing good results and we believe that any company – whatever its size – can achieve this too.”

Investment in Young People, a National Award run by Young Chamber UK, recognises the work that small to medium businesses carry out in assisting young people aged 5 to 25 gain employability skills and to assist them with the transition from education into the world of work.

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

Looking to address the form and size issues posed by the latest wearable devices, Samsung has launched the Stripe and Band batteries.

The Stripe battery, which is said to bend and conform as freely as a fibre, is a 0.3mm thick device aimed at a broad range of wearable electronics devices. It contains multiple elements developed independently by the company’s SDI group and is said to offer higher energy density by minimising the width of the battery sealing.

The Band battery, meanwhile, is aimed at smartwatch straps and can withstand being bent and unbent more than 50,000 times.

However, the company has not provided any indication of the performance that might be available from either battery.

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk