Here’s some exciting news for Rithmio, a company which started at the University of Illinois and is still partially based in C-U: News was just released that the gesture recognition platform raised $3 million in seed funding. Rithmio won the annual Cozad competition in 2014, and was recognized in the Entrepreneurial Excellence: Student Startup Award category at this year’s Innovation Celebration.
From the Chicago Business article:
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
From the press release:
CHICAGO, Ill. – June 29, 2015 – Rithmio, the gesture recognition platform for wearables, today announced that it has closed a $3 million seed round of financing co-led by KGC Capital and Intel Capital. Participants included MAS Capital Pvt Ltd., OCA Ventures, Hyde Park Ventures Partners, Hyde Park Angels, Foley Ventures, MKRC Ventures, Serra Ventures, and New Coast Ventures. With this investment, Rithmio will expand its product, R&D, and sales teams to fulfill its vision as the world’s leading gesture recognition platform.
“We have the team, technology, and now strategic partnerships to take the motion- sensing market to the next level,” said Adam Tilton, CEO and co-founder of Rithmio. “Over the next year, we’ll work closely with the developer community on the next generation of wearables and other products built on Rithmio’s gesture recognition software.”
“Real-time analytics for user-specific physical activities represents a potential game changing technology for fitness, physical therapy, and rehabilitation applications,” said Steven Holmes, vice president of the New Devices Group and general manager of the Smart Device Innovation team at Intel. “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.”
In September of 2014, Rithmio raised $650,000 that was used to grow the team. Key hires included Kamil Chmielewski, Director of Software, Jen Quinlan, VP of Marketing, and Christian Nam, Designer. The seven-person team focuses on developing Rithmio’s core algorithms and SDK. Rithmio also opened a Chicago office in November 2014 at Catapult Chicago. This is in addition to its office in Champaign, IL at EnterpriseWorks Incubator, Research Park.
Rithmio was founded in 2013 through the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. “Great tech innovations and startups have come out of the University of Illinois. Rithmio is no exception,” said Chris Capps, CEO of KGC Capital. “We believe in Adam and Prashant’s vision.”
