Thalmic Labs, a Waterloo, Canada-based maker of a wearable gesture control device (MYO), closed a $14.5m Series A financing.
The round was led by Spark Capital and Intel Capital. with participation from Formation 8, First Round Capital and FundersClub, Paul Graham, Marc Benioff, Geoff Ralston, Sam Altman, Garry Tan, Fritz Lanman, Hank Vigil, Tom Wagner, Alex Bard, Michael Litt and Daniel Debow.
In conjunction with the funding, Nabeel Hyatt of Spark Capital, will be joining Thalmic Labs’ board of directors.
The company intends to use the funding for further product development of MYO, and developmwent of future products and technologies.
Led by Stephen Lake, CEO and co-founder, Thalmic Labs recently released MYO a device that allows users to control computers, smartphones and other digital devices with hand gestures.
MYO is available for pre-order at http://www.thalmic.com/myo for $149.00.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWu9TFJjHaM
. The company is the developer of exciting, new technologies in the area of human-computer interaction. Its first product, the MYO armband, measures electrical activity in muscles to wirelessly control computers, phones and other digital technologies, resulting in seamless interaction between humans and devices.
Thalmic Labs was founded in 2012 by three graduates of the University of Waterloo’s mechatronics engineering program (Stephen Lake, Matthew Bailey, Aaron Grant), and has since grown to a world-leading team of scientists, engineers and designers committed to building the future of wearable technology. The company was part of Y Combinator’s winter 2013 cohort, and launched from the University of Waterloo’s Velocity program.
About Spark Capital
Spark Capital is a venture capital firm that partners with exceptional entrepreneurs seeking to build disruptive, world-changing companies. Founded in 2005, the firm manages approximately $1,500,000,000 across four funds. Headquartered in Boston, Spark maintains an office in New York and invests across the globe. The firm focuses on the following key categories: advertising & monetization, commerce & services, content & media, hardware & infrastructure, mobile and social. Spark Capital has backed notable companies including Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare, AdMeld, OMGPOP, Warby Parker and Wayfair. For more information, visit http://www.sparkcapital.com.
About Intel Capital
Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment and M&A organization, makes equity investments in innovative technology start-ups and companies worldwide. Intel Capital invests in a broad range of companies offering hardware, software, and services targeting enterprise, mobility, health, consumer internet, digital media and semiconductor manufacturing. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$10.8 billion in over 1,284 companies in 54 countries. In that timeframe, 202 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 320 were acquired or participated in a merger. In 2012, Intel Capital invested US$352 million in 150 investments with approximately 57 percent of funds invested outside North America. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit www.intelcapital.com or follow @intelcapital.