Aito Raises €3 Million Investment Led by KBC Focus Fund

Aito is excited to announce that we have successfully raised a €3 million investment led by KBC Focus Fund, with participation from FORWARD.one and existing investor, Innovation Industries. The new investment will be used to scale-up and deliver Aito’s ground-breaking Haptile solution for advanced haptics and sensing to leading customers of computing devices and other applications.

“We believe Aito is very well positioned to become a world-class player in providing cost-effective and high-performance haptics solutions, creating rich and personalised user interface experiences in a multitude of applications”, says Rudi Severijns, Investment Director at KBC Focus Fund. “We’re impressed by their commercial traction with top players in consumer electronics and computing, and expect they’ll be able to capture a significant share of a rapidly growing market in the coming years.” Rudi joins the supervisory board.

Paul Pruijmboom, partner at FORWARD.one, commented: “Aito is a prime example of a game-changing hardware innovation and we look forward to supporting their vision in becoming a global human interface leader”. Paul also joins the supervisory board.

Peter Kurstjens, CEO of Aito, stated: “OEMs are knocking on our door because of our integrated system solution that lets them innovate on their product design, improve quality, and create richer user experiences. This investment helps us to scale up our global operations and deliver our unique Haptile solution to the leading players of the computing industry".

In the coming years, advanced haptic feedback and force sensing will replace traditional button interfaces in billions of consumer devices. Aito’s proprietary Haptile solution is the world’s first integrated, plug-n-play module, offering dynamic force sensing and localised, direct-drive haptic feedback in a single package. Measuring just 2 mm in height, it’s also the world’s thinnest solution, saving critical space within devices. Space that you can use for larger batteries, for example. The fully configurable user experience and scalable form factor help our customers to innovate product designs and get to market faster.

Aito is a frontrunner in the global human interface market. The Haptile modules add force sensing and haptic feedback to an extensive range of devices, including laptops, keyboards, computing mice, smartphones and car infotainment systems. Aito's unique and patented technology is developed by a world-class team of engineers based in Espoo, Finland.

KBC Focus Fund is a €50 million venture capital fund that invests in advanced technologies with a particular emphasis on semiconductor, nanotechnology and IoT. Their focus is on Belgium and surrounding countries where well-known expertise centres are located. KBC Focus Fund leverages on the network and expertise of KBC Group and is managed by KBC Securities, which has a solid knowledge of the tech ecosystem in Belgium and beyond, with experienced teams in Venture Capital, M&A, Corporate Finance, and Research & Sales. As part of the KBC Group, the KBC Focus Fund aims to be long-term partners for entrepreneurs.

FORWARD.one is a venture capital fund founded by the successful co-founders of Ampelmann and financial experts. The fund focuses on the most promising B2B start-ups for high-tech hardware with the potential to break through on a global scale. FORWARD.one uses its expertise and extensive network to accelerate the growth of its portfolio companies.