Ambiq Micro, an Ann Arbor, MI, startup developing low-power microcontrollers for smart credit cards and ultralong-life sensors for homes and buildings, has attracted $2.4 million in seed funding, the company announced yesterday. The money comes from lead investor DFJ Mercury, along with ARM, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Cisco, The Frankel Fund, Huron River Ventures, and a number of private investors.
When I last spoke with company chief Scott Hanson in July, he had just won $250,000 from DFJ and Cisco in a business plan competition. He also told me that a million-dollar seed round of funding was coming within the next two months. Well, he was a couple of months off, but his company got well more than a million to help commercialize its technology.
Renaissance Venture Capital, Michigan’s “fund of funds,” has invested $3 million in DFJ Mercury on the promise that the Texas-based venture firm will invest in Michigan companies. The Ambiq Micro investment shows that DFJ Mercury is serious about that promise. DFJ Mercury’s other Michigan investments include Swift Biosciences in Ann Arbor and Kabongo, an educational IT company with offices in Ann Arbor.
“DFJ Mercury is excited to support Ambiq Micro in its efforts to bring world-class ultra-low power microcontrollers to market,” DFJ Mercury Managing Director Ned Hill said in a prepared statement. “Ambiq provides proven technology that enables new products where the requirements for significant battery life extend far beyond the capabilities available today.”
