European VCs back Finland’s Imbera to build plant in South Korea

Funding

Finnish start-up Imbera Electronics, a developer of Integrated Module Board (IMB) technology for 3-D semiconductor packaging, has secured $15 million in a second round from NorthZone Ventures, Index Ventures and Conor Venture Partners to open a new high-volume manufacturing operation in Sangsong-ri, South Korea.

The funding will also support the Helsinki University spin-out’s R&D activities in Espoo, Finland. Production at the new South Korean facility is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Imbera’s IMB technology was originally developed in the 1990s as a research project at the Helsinki University of Technology. Traditional electronics have all of the electrical components sitting on top of a printed circuit board (PCB). The board, used merely as a means of interconnection, has a high percentage of unused space and offers little functionality.

Imbera’s IMB technology embeds electronic components inside the PCB, making it smart by giving the board two functions of interconnectivity and component functionality. This allows both smaller overall size and improved performance and durability for boards designed for products ranging from cell phones and global positioning system devices to automotive and medical applications, while reducing costs and maximising circuit board real estate.

The company’s technology will have benefits in all types of electronics manufacturing, from low-cost applications to highly complex multi-chip modules with a high number of electrical contacts.

“Imbera is empowering and freeing designers of electronic products from the technical and space constraints that have limited their visions in the past, especially when looking at the market for small portable devices,” said Giuseppe Zocco, co-founder and partner of Index Ventures. “Imbera’s IMB technology provides a viable, production-ready solution to enable manufacture of new generations of mobile phones and other devices that are smaller, thinner and have better performance.”

“Imbera has progressed rapidly since we first invested in 2007,” said Bjørn Stray, general partner in NorthZone Ventures. “As one of the lead investors in this round of financing, we look forward to continued growth as we deliver the groundbreaking IMB solution to customers through the planned manufacturing facility that we own together with our JV partner, Daeduck Electronics.”

The key advantages of IMB technology are further product miniaturisation and improved electrical performance while achieving a competitive manufacturing cost. IMB can be combined with existing PCB production processes without extensive development work, enabling fast technology ramp-up and high production quality.