Ossia is adding another established investor to its of group financial backers.
The Redmond-based startup, which is developing wireless charging technology, announced today that Japan-based KDDI is making a strategic investment in the company.
KDDI is Japan’s second-largest wireless carrier with more than 40 million customers. The company’s investment is part of Ossia’s $24 million round that we reported in November.
Ossia said that KDDI’s support, which comes through the KDDI Open Innovation Fund, will help the startup continue developing wireless charging technology and enable it to get its product in front of Japanese consumer electronics manufacturers.
“There has been tremendous interest in Ossia’s Cota remote wireless power technology in Japan,” Ossia founder Hatem Zeine said in a statement. “Ossia has been working diligently to create meaningful partnerships with Japanese companies that, like KDDI, understand the benefits and long-term possibilities remote wireless power will create.”
We met with Zeine this past April, where the trained physicist and former Microsoft engineer showed us Ossia’s Cota technology, which can wirelessly charge electronic devices through walls and power gadgets that are more than 40 feet away.
The plan is to sell the Cota technology to device and accessory manufacturers, who can embed Cota receivers in their new products. Consumers can then purchase a Cota-enabled charging station and place it in their home or office.
The vision is to be able to charge your devices anywhere at anytime, without cords. Zeine said that he hopes Cota eventually becomes as prevalent as Wi-Fi is today.
“We may not invent the next great gadget,” Zeine said last year. “But we will make it possible.”
The new funding is helping Ossia speed up development of Cota and ultimately get the technology commercialized. In April, Zeine said that Ossia had raised a little more than $6 million. The new $24 million round, which KDDI is apart of, would push total funding past $30 million. The company in November also raised more money from Intel Capital, the venture arm of Intel.
