The venture capital arm of Siemens said it will join Cardinal Venture Capital and Garage Technology Ventures in investing $3 million in wireless technology company PhoneBites. PhoneBites is developing a mobile-phone application that will allow users to interject sounds into a voice conversation. The company has already developed a headset with similar capabilities as a proof of concept of its efforts.
“We believe sound bites will become just as popular among subscribers as ring tones are today and also a very lucrative business. PhoneBites is clearly at the forefront of this development, and we have high aspirations for the company,” said Dietrich Ulmer, head of Siemens’ investment firm.
In addition, Lumus Ltd. said it closed a series B financing round led by Motorola Ventures, the venture-capital arm of Motorola Inc.
Jerusalem Global Ventures also participated in the financing round.
Lumus developed a light-guide optical element that allows for compact personal displays in a variety of configurations, including wearable near-to-eye displays, handheld screens for mobile phones and full-performance head-up displays.
In other funding news, wireless network optimization company Venturi Wireless Inc. announced it scored $10 million in its third round of funding from the likes of InterWest Partners, Intel Communications Fund, Novus Ventures, Horizon Ventures and Storm Ventures.
