Pharrowtech closes €6M+ Seed Investment Round With imec.xpand, Bloc Ventures and KBC Focus Fund

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Pharrowtech, the designer of chip and antenna solutions for high-speed wireless applications, today announces that it has raised more than €6 million for its Seed investment round. This ambitious investment round led by imec.xpand and Bloc Ventures with participation from imec and KBC, will allow Pharrowtech to further enhance the leading-edge capabilities of its products and prepare for high-volume production ramp-up aimed at Fixed Wireless Access, 5G, AR/VR and other bandwidth demanding wireless applications.

Pharrowtech also announces that Pieter Vorenkamp, former SVP at Broadcom and Cadence, has joined as Independent Chairman of the new board to accelerate this upcoming growth phase.

Pharrowtech has been spun out of imec, the world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, where the team led IP generation and prototype development in wireless sub-systems encompassing all analog and RF circuits as well as phased-array antennas and related electronic components.

Wim Van Thillo, Pharrowtech CEO and co-founder, said: “In early 2018 we identified the emerging millimeter-wave business opportunity with a leading operator and telco equipment vendor. During the past year, the team has been focused on taking the widely-recognised IP developed at imec with contributions from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) from development prototype into Fixed Wireless Access system demonstrator.

Today, we are adding senior industry leadership and significant investment by Europe’s prominent early stage tech investors and industry veterans in hardware, semiconductors and telecom, which validates our approach and our technology. We are now ready for this next growth phase and look forward to working together with our new partners.”

Pieter Vorenkamp said: “This is an exciting time to be joining such a young and innovative team, and at such an early stage with such a significant level of backing. My 18 years at Broadcom provide me a unique insight into what’s required to outperform incumbent players and I’m confident we will achieve this with the Pharrowtech team.”

David Leftley, co-founder and CTO of Bloc Ventures said: “We believe Pharrowtech, with a world leading RF semiconductor team, is uniquely positioned to succeed in the millimeter wave space – a key area of growth for the sector in the coming years. Bloc is delighted to add Pharrowtech to its investments, especially as this is the first investment we have made outside the United Kingdom, and we look forward to collaborating with them to make their dreams a reality.”

Peter Vanbekbergen, Partner at imec.xpand said: “We are investing in companies that have the potential to become global players by disrupting the domain they are active in. We are convinced that the Pharrowtech team, also thanks to the close co-operation with imec, has all the tools, skills and expertise to disrupt the FWA market.”

Rudi Severijns, Investment Director at KBC Focus Fund added: “At KBC, we’ve set ourselves as primary goal to actively support the DeepTech ecosystem in Belgium and our surrounding countries.  We are delighted to support such a top team spinning out of imec in cooperation with imec.xpand and Bloc Ventures. KBC Focus Fund will actively support Pharrowtech through the network and expertise of KBC Group.”

Jo De Boeck, Chief Strategy Office at imec stated: “We are very proud with this significant investment in our spin-off Pharrowtech, as it is the confirmation of the value of the 60GHz wireless communications technology in which imec has been investing for over 12 years, leveraging on our world-class R&D teams and infrastructure. This investment is the promise of a bright future for Pharrowtech. It will enable the company to further mature the technology and disrupt the Fixed Wireless Access application space.”