Short-range communication company benefits from growing market

Published 3 August 2009

The Near Field Communication (NFC) market is growing, and Companies in the NFC market benefit; the latest: Innovision Research & Technology raises £5.4 million from existing and new institutional investors

The Near Field Communication (NFC) market is growing. Just take two examples: More and more security checkpoints (border crossings, air port passport stations, buildings’ access control) rely on reading biometric, RFID-enabled ID documents. More and more inventory-taking is done by reading RFID tags on pellets and boxes. Companies in the NFC market benefit.

The latest example: Cirencester, Gloucestershire, U.K.-based Innovision Research & Technology has secured funding of nearly £5.4 million from existing and new institutional investors to take advantage of its strong position in the growing NFC market. The company will use the funding to further develop and capitalize on opportunities for its NFC Intellectual Property (IP) and RFID tags and help consolidate its position as an NFC IP technology developer.

Innovision said in a statement that it has licensed its NFC technology to some of the world’s largest global semiconductor companies and is working with them to incorporate NFC IP into chips aimed at the mobile handset market. Once they reach production, Innovision expects new deals to generate significant royalty revenues over several years, securing the company’s NFC IP into NFC handsets shipped from 2012 onward.

The NFC market is getting very positive headlines, with statements from payment processors, mobile network operators and handset manufacturers,” said David Wollen, chief executive of Innovision. “With the market for contactless applications such as limited-use ticketing continuing to develop both in domestic and international markets, we want to make sure we maximize our opportunities in this important space.”

He added: “We’re very encouraged by the support and confidence in us that this funding from major institutional investors demonstrates, especially in what is still a relatively depressed market environment. Raising these funds gives us the headroom to take advantage of our strong position in key high-growth markets for both NFC and RFID technology.”