Californian semiconductor company acquires ERC grant winner’s lab for $30M

European Research Council (ERC) grant-winner Alberto Broggi has sold his VisLab computer vision company to the Californian semiconductor company Ambarella for US30 million cash. 

Last year Broggi, director of VisLab, based at the University of Parma, beat eight other ERC grantees with his 3D sensor prototype at a Science|Business pitching contest.

An ERC grant of €1.8 million allowed Broggi to expand VisLab, adding 14 new researchers.

As part of the acquisition, VisLab’s 27 researchers will join Ambarella’s advanced computer vision development team.

Vislab has attracted a lot of attention for its self-driving vehicle research. One of its creations, 15 years in the works, is the Piaggio Porter minibus, which in 2010 made a three-month 13,000 kilometre trip from Parma to China without a driver. Broggi and his team have also developed a host of applications, from blind-spot monitoring to collision mitigation and traffic-sign recognition.

The company has previously worked on contracts for the US Pentagon, construction vehicle giant Caterpillar, and Italian electronics firm Marelli.

Fermi Wang, chief executive of Ambarella, a specialist in video-encoding chips said, “We are delighted to welcome Dr Broggi and the VisLab team to Ambarella to jointly define, develop and deploy future generations of computer vision solutions.”