U of I Spinout Gets $3 Million From Intel, KGC (Rithmio)
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Rithmio, a University of Illinois spinout that’s betting that wearable devices can benefit from technology developed for missile tracking, has raised $3 million from an impressive lineup of investors.
Intel Capital, along with Chicago-based KGC Capital, led the investment. Other backers include Chicago-based OCA Ventures, Hyde Park Angels, Hyde Park Venture Partners and New Coast Ventures, along with Champaign-based Serra Ventures, Boston-based Foley Ventures, MKRC Ventures in Silicon Valley, and MAS Capital of Sri Lanka.
Intel Capital, based in Santa Clara, Calif., is the chipmaker’s venture-capital arm, and KGC is investment banker Dick Kiphart’s investment fund. MAS is part of a clothing manufacturer whose customers include Nike. San Jose-based MKRC is an investment fund run by Marcin Kleczynski, a U of I alum who founded computer security firm Malwarebytes.
Rithmio is benefiting from the explosion in demand for wearable devices, such as fitness monitors and smartwatches.
“Real-time analytics for user-specific physical activities represents a potential game-changing technology for fitness, physical therapy and rehabilitation applications,” Steven Holmes, vice president of Intel’s new devices group, said in a statement. “Intel is exploring a wide range of potential applications for wearable tech and gesture recognition, and we look forward to working with Rithmio as they push the boundaries of their solution.”
Rithmio will use the new funding to add staff and continue developing its gesture recognition technology, CEO Adam Tilton told me. Products using its technology aren’t yet on the market, but he expects the first product to be out by the end of the year. The company is taking applications for partners that want access to its software development kit.
The company is a rarity in Chicago tech circles because it’s developing technology for consumer devices. And it’s one of the few U of I tech companies to head from Urbana-Champaign to Chicago instead of the West Coast.
Rithmio spun out of U of I in 2013 and received $650,000 in seed funding last year. It was founded by U of I engineering professor Prashant Mehta and Tilton, then a graduate student in mechanical engineering, who were developing motion-tracking algorithms for missile defense applications.
The company has seven employees, in Chicago and Champaign. Tilton leads the software development team from Catapult, an incubator in River North launched by law firm Foley & Lardner.