Qualcomm’s European VC arm, Qualcomm Ventures Europe, has made a “strategic investment” in Anteryon, the world leader in wafer-based, miniature optical module production for mobile phone cameras and laser projection. In addition to Qualcomm other investors participated in the round, including BNP Paribas Private Equity and Biggell Finance participating as existing shareholders, and Quest for Growth, a Belgium-based investment fund, also as a new investor.
Anteryon will use the money for the WaferOptics optical module production technology and its Asia production facility expansion. Terms of the investment have not been disclosed.
In case you don’t know (I just learned), wafer-scale production enables extensive miniaturization and cost saving, while using the same wafer format as the CMOS image sensor industry allows for a full integration of sensor and optics production, which vastly simplifies the camera module supply chain. Anteryon is the leader in this domain, with a WaferOptics product portfolio ranging from VGA to 5 megapixel camera modules. The company has manufacturing facilities in Eindhoven and China.