A University of Bristol spin out has secured £6.7m to continue its work to change how smartphones and wearable tech is designed.
Fabless semiconductor firm Forefront RF was founded in 2020 by Dr Leo Laughlin and Julian Hildersley, with much of the research that has gone into its tech conducted at the university’s laboratories.
Now based in Cambridge, the business has received the backing of BGF, one of the largest and growth capital investors in the UK, alongside existing investors Science Creates Ventures and Foresight Group.
The funding boost comes after Bristol's deep-tech support organisation, Science Creates, which helps scientists and engineers accelerate their ideas, led a £1.5m round in 2021 to help Forefront accelerate the launch of its products.
Forefront said its latest raise would help it to capitalise on “strong industry trends and take advantage of global market dynamics” to drive further growth.
According to Forefront, its chip enables connected devices to operate across the range of 3G to 6G mobile telephony frequency bands.
Its cancellation technology redesigns the radio-frequency system in a wireless device, enabling manufacturers to simplify the design and delivery of frequency agnostic products, while reducing cost and supply chain waste.
Dr Laughlin, Forefront’s chief technology officer, said: "We’re delighted to receive further funding to support the delivery of the next stage of Forefront RF’s growth strategy. Forefront RF is well positioned to capitalise on strong global growth prospects, addressing an industry wide challenge with our cutting-edge technology.”
Bristol health tech guru Dr Harry Destecroix, an investor at Science Creates Ventures, said: “We’re delighted with the progress Forefront RF has made since our early investment in 2021. It has been great to support the company to date and we look forward to its continued growth and success.”
Science Creates was first established as an incubator in 2017 by Dr Destecroix, a former University of Bristol PhD student whose spin out Ziylo - a biotech business which uses tech to treat diabetes - was sold to pharma giant Novo Nordisk in 2018 for up to £623m. He went on to expand his incubator into an ecosystem that invests in and supports other deep-tech innovations.
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