Decawave named the one to watch at chip ‘Oscars’

IRISH semiconductor company Decawave has been named as the “startup to watch” at a major Silicon Valley award ceremony.

Decawave, which is currently in the final stages of a new fundraising round was named ‘Startup to Watch’ at the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) Awards – often referred to as the Oscars of the semiconductor industry.

The company has developed a low-power chip that can identify the specific location of any object to within an accuracy of seven centimetres. The chip has the potential to unleash a whole new wave of innovation in the booming ‘internet of things’ sector, it is understood. The company’s first-generation DW1000 chip has already shipped more than four million units across the automotive, industrial and consumer sectors.

One current application of the chip is its incorporation into Segways, which effectively allows the two-wheeled-powered scooters to follow their owner. Future generations of the chip could provide similar functionality to drones.

A key market for the chip is in the automotive sector, where car manufacturers use it to defend against so-called relay device robberies of cars. Thieves are now using special devices to obtain the signal from a car fob, allowing them to access cars without needing keys.

A Decawave chip prevents this by requiring the fob to be present for the car to open.

The new ongoing funding round is aimed at allowing Decawave to develop the next generation of its chip. The company is believed to have plans to develop a version that could be incorporated into mobile phones.

The GSA committee is comprised of “venture capitalists and select serial entrepreneurs in the industry.”

The ‘Start-up to Watch’ category is awarded each year to a semiconductor company that demonstrates the potential to positively change its market or the semiconductor industry in general through the innovative use of semiconductor technology or a new application for the technology.