Japan’s Xenoma Inc., a wearable electronics apparel startup, raises $1.7M in VC funding
May 12, 2016 | By PRN NewsWire
WORCESTER, Mass., May 12, 2016 /PRNewswire-iReach/ — Xenoma, Inc. a spin out from Professor Takao Someya’s lab at the University of Tokyo in 2015, has secured 185 M Yen ($1.7 M) in funding from Beyond Next Ventures. Xenoma Inc., which specializes in developing stretchable sensors and electronics for the wearable electronic industry, has developed smart apparel to monitor a user’s motion, respiration, and body temperature remotely without the use of cameras. Lead funding from Beyond Next Ventures, with participation from the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), arrived in April via its first dedicated fund to support academic startup companies through seed investment.
Photo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160511/366505
Xenoma’s e-skin product platform combines traditional textile materials found in most performance wear with stretchable electronics and printable sensors to create the next generation in smart apparel that is comfortable for the user, waterproof, machine washable, and able to withstand active daily use.
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Dr. Ichiro Amimori, is thrilled to announce the funding and partnership. Amimori says funding from Beyond Next Ventures will “accelerate Xenoma’s activities to bring e-skin products to the market, and to enable a new generation in printed circuit fabrics for seamless connectivity for the user’s body and their smart devices.”
Tsuyoshi Ito, Managing Partner from Beyond Next Ventures continues by saying “Xenoma has leveraged the practicality of these materials first developed by Professor Someya – a pioneer in stretchable electronics”, and “created need-based applications for e-skin which span across entertainment, fitness, and health care industries.” Funding Xenoma will “enhance the usability of e-skin which will have a significant impact on the wearables industry as a whole.”
In March, Xenoma was also awarded a grant from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) in the amount of 70M Yen ($661 k) to further advance the development of system integration and end user applications.
Xenoma will be exhibiting at Wear 2016 in Boston, MA (May 22-24). The company has offices in Japan (Tokyo) and the U.S. (Worcester, MA). For more information, please visit: www.xenoma.com
To view this video on YouTube, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3X2NFLY9J0
Media Contact: James Eakin, Xenoma Inc., 401-225-7442, james_eakin@xenoma.com
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Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3X2NFLY9J0Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160511/366505Xenoma Inc
Web site: http://www.xenoma.com/
