NEWS
Investor financially supports
innovative Italian SME
Nice acquires
FIBARO, one
of the major
players in the
smart home
sector
N
N
ew partners are joining Pasquale
Fedele, the inventor of BrainControl,
which gained a total of €2.5 million in a
round of funding led by the Italian-based
investment firm, RedSeed Ventures.
“We are very satisfied. The Brain
Computer Interface technology is a very
promising field of research. Italy has
world-renowned researchers and we
are proud to allow excellences, such as
BrainControl, to receive the necessary
capital to continue its growth and to
generate a strong social impact for the
whole community,” said Elisa Schembari
and Roberto Zanco, Managing Partners of
RedSeed Ventures.
BrainControl was founded in 2010 with
the aim of allowing patients in a locked-in
condition, in which the patient is conscious
and awake but can neither move nor
communicate, to interact through the
10
INTELLIGENTCIO
use of a helmet that can perform an
electroencephalogram and a tablet. The
proprietary software is based on the
Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), which is
applied to the helmet and which works
as a kind of ‘mental joystick’ operated by
brain stimuli. The technology interprets
the electrical map corresponding to
certain brain activities, allowing it to be
used to control external devices.
In addition to BCI technology, the
device has other biometric sensors
which make the product able to assist
the patient during all phases of the
disease. More than 140 million people
in the world live with paralysis caused by
degenerative neuromuscular diseases,
ischemia, trauma and other causes. The
technologies currently available on the
market offer effective solutions during
some phases of these diseases but which
become unusable as they progress.
ice S.p.A., the Italian international
reference firm in home automation
and home security, expands in the smart
home sector and acquires FIBARO, a
leading brand in the sector, which offers
a true wireless, modular ecosystem for a
connected, controlled and customised home
suited to the user’s specific needs. The
Italian company continues along its path of
international expansion and thanks to an
even broader and innovative offer, is ready
to seize the opportunities of a segment with
a high growth potential such as the ‘smart
home’. On the basis of the agreements
reached, Nice S.p.A. acquires the entire
share capital of Fibar Group S.A., indirectly
acquiring its subsidiaries as well.
“We are pleased to announce this important
new deal for the group,” commented Lauro
Buoro, Founder and Chairman of Nice S.p.A.,
“It allows us to accelerate our growth by
offering a portfolio of the most complete
products in the home automation and
home security sector, thus strengthening
our position of leadership in world markets,
characterised by the growing demand for
connected solutions to allow consumers to
have their own most innovative smart home.”
The Nice Group, which has production
and distribution facilities, and research
and development centres in more than
20 different countries, with a headcount
in 2017 of more than 1,500, helps spread
awareness of Italian excellence in more than
100 countries worldwide which have chosen
high-quality home automation solutions
that masterfully combine technology, design,
innovation and ease of use.
www.intelligentcio.com