MEMSIC Semiconductor, a China-based firm that develops semiconductor sensors for clients like Google and
Samsung, announced on Monday the completion of a Series A funding round at over 1 billion yuan ($154.3 million).
The Series A round was led by Hangzhou-based investment firm Fortuna Capital. An unnamed sovereign wealth
fund in Asia; Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma-backed Yunfeng Capital; pan-Asia private equity (PE) firm Olympus
Capital’s Asia Environmental Partners (AEP); Chinese state-backed Yangtze River Delta Collaborative Advantage
Industry Fund and other investors participated.
The new financing will be used to finance the construction of MEMSIC’s production base and R&D of key
technologies.
Claiming to be China’s biggest provider of inertial sensors, MEMSIC offers products to Samsung, Google and
domestic brands including OPPO, Vivo, and Lenovo. Car makers Ford Motor, Volvo Cars, Hyundai Motor, and Nissan
Motor are also the firm’s clients.
The billion-yuan investment could mark the start of a new journey for the firm of about two-decade history. Founded
in 1999 and started as an Andover, Massachusetts-based company, MEMSIC had gone public on Nasdaq in
December 2007 through an initial public offering (IPO) of $60 million, before it was taken private by investment firm
IDG Capital for about $88.5 million in April 2013.
The firm’s valuation nearly tripled in five years when HC SemiTek Corporation, a Shenzhen-listed manufacturer of
LED epitaxial wafers and chips, acquired all shares in MEMSIC for 1.65 billion yuan ($254.9 million) in a deal
approved by the Chinese authority in 2018. In December 2019, MEMSIC spun out from the parent and became the
entity known as “MEMSIC Semiconductor.”
Now headquartered in China’s Tianjin City, MEMSIC develops semiconductor sensors based on micro-electro-
mechanical systems (MEMS) technology.
Its products, including accelerometers, magnetic sensors, and integrated high-performance inertial measurement
units, are used in Internet of Things (IoT) devices, automotive security systems, various industrial products, as well as
smartphones and other consumer electronics.
According to its website, MEMSIC has developed over 30 types of acceleration sensors and magnetic sensors with
their cumulative shipments exceeding 1.7 billion by the end of 2019.
With R&D centres in China and the US, MEMSIC operates manufacturing, packaging, and testing facilities in
eastern Chinese cities of Wuxi and Shanghai. Its sales network spans across Asia Pacific, America, Europe, Africa,
and the Middle East.
South Africa Today
Read more at VolaNews
