Vayyar Imaging, which develops sensors for 4D and in-motion imaging, announced today that it had completed a $109 million financing round. Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT) of the Koch family led the round, with participation by the Regal Four family investment firm and previous investors in the company, among them Walden Riverwood Ventures, Battery Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners. The current round brings the capital raised by the company to $188 million.
CEO Raviv Melamed, CTO Naftali Chayat, and VP R&D Miri Ratner founded Vayyar in 2011 in order to develop a product that would help make imaging tests for detection of breast cancer cheaper, more effective, and painless. They developed a chip for this purpose capable of generating an image of objects and the material contained in them. The chip contains two sensors: one that broadcasts radio waves and one that receives them.
A radio wave is an electromagnetic wave that slows down when it penetrates material with a higher electromagnetic coefficient. The wave's various reflections are recorded by the other sensor, enabling the chip to detect the composition and form of the material.The physical effect is similar to what happens when you watch a spoon in a glass of water and it looks bent.
Development of hardware is slower than development of software products, and development of medical devices is even slower and more expensive, and requires many tests and trials. After somehow surviving its first year, Vayyar managed to raise $12 million in its second year, an especially large amount in comparison with its previous financing round. The company continued developing and raising large amounts. Two years ago, in the round before the current one, it raised $45 million from a number of prominent venture capital funds. Vayyar currently has 150 employees, most of them in Yehud, and also has employees in Haifa and Jerusalem. Following the new round, the company's team is expected to continue growing, and it also plans expansion to Japan and the US.
"We want to be a large Israeli company, and we looked for investors who would continue with us for a long time. That's how KDT is. Their purpose is to develop large companies, and with the investors we have now, it amounts to a very good cadre that enables us to grow," Melamed told "Globes." Asked how long they expected the current round to last the company, Melamed answered, "We hope to reach a position in which we start paying for ourselves and using our own money."
Since it was founded, Vayyar has developed the device for early detection of breast cancer. In recent months, it achieved a breakthrough that made it possible to substantially reduce the device's size. The device is now undergoing trials. Vayyar has become increasingly diversified over the years, and is now active in four sectors: imaging, monitoring, sensors, and testing. The company derives revenue from direct sales to a customer (B2C) and from sales to large companies (a B2B model).
The founders do not disclose the company's revenue, but they say that the company's largest revenue now comes from a device called Walabot that connects to a mobile phone, and from an app used in renovation work to scan walls in US construction (plaster walls with a wooden frame). The device displays an image of the wall's interior, including pipes, electric wires, and studs, on the phone screen. Sales of the product last year totaled 250,000 units, putting it in second place in the stud detection products market in the US, which consists mainly of more expensive and less accurate products based on metal detection.
Another product responsible for a large proportion of Vayyar's revenue is a radiation tester for cellphones. It is currently used in factories mainly in India and China. Vayyar claims that it is twice as effective as the existing devices in the market. Other applications range from detecting the effectiveness of air cushions as safety devices in vehicles, to tracking customer behavior in stores, and even instantly measuring a person's clothing and shoe size.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 20, 2019
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