CAMPBELL, Calif.-In further validation of demand for fingerprint technology on wireless devices, Silicon Valley-based Atrua Technologies Inc. announced it has raised $12 million in Series B financing, led by NeoCarta Ventures and existing investors including Nokia Venture Partners, Ericsson Venture Partners and Intel Capital.
Atrua, now in production with its first product, has garnered interest from the mobile space, as well as from companies that make USB memory devices and MP3 players, according to Anthony Gioeli, the company’s president and chief executive officer.
Atrua’s fingerprint sensors are now shipping to manufacturers in Asia, including leading mobile-phone manufacturers and other electronic device companies, and Gioeli said he expects to see products in the market by the end of this quarter or early next quarter.
Aside from fingerprint-recognition uses for authentication and m-commerce, Atrua is also in talks with the gaming community and application developers to use fingerprint algorithms to develop multimedia controls for wireless devices. Using the technology, a user’s finger would act as a mouse or cursor to navigate the screen, scroll through menus and to enable four-dimensional gaming functionality, according to Gioeli.
