Cloud platform and vehicle connectivity software company, Excelfore, has received investments from Molex and HELLA, two major names in the automotive ecosystem.
This is the first time that HELLA, through its Venture Capital arm HELLA Ventures, has invested in Excelfore, following a previously announced cooperation on bi-directional OTA software updating and data gathering for automotive components. Molex also invested in the Excelfore Series A round of funding, which was announced in January 2017.
Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Excelfore is driving smart mobility with innovative middleware for in-vehicle and vehicle-to-cloud networks, which is embedded into leading products such as the Molex automotive network platform. Excelfore’s software enables automotive OEMs and manufacturers to build the next generation of connected cars.
“These two new investments are a significant vote of confidence in Excelfore, and our eSync technology,” said Shrinath Acharya, CEO, Excelfore. The eSync over-the-air (OTA) system helps carmakers to address increasingly expensive and inconvenient vehicle recalls, creating a two-way pipeline for updating software and gathering data from the increasing number of electronic components in modern cars.
HELLA has recently demonstrated how it uses eSync to provide features-on-demand, for example providing car owners the ability to choose new advanced lighting features to be installed on their vehicles on a trial or permanent basis.
“The eSync platform is going to play an important role in HELLA’s connected car strategy, and in shaping the automotive industry,” said Dr. Rainer Holve, chief digital officer at HELLA. “We’re excited to be able to invest in Excelfore, and to help them develop the technology further.”
Molex has leveraged Excelfore’s eSync capabilities in conjunction with Molex 10Gbps Automotive Ethernet development to enable pushing software updates across a flexible high-speed vehicle network, and to enable pulling data for diagnosing and tracking vehicle status. The combined system helps enable a more flexible and dynamic vehicle platform that provides next generation performance while supporting a wide range of hardware, including sensors, cameras, video displays, ECUs and network gateways.
“Molex views embedded middleware from Excelfore as a key part of a fully integrated platform, providing industry standards-based, scalable and agile networks in the vehicle and beyond to the cloud,” said Lily Yeung, vice president, Molex Ventures. “We look forward to the continued collaboration with Excelfore for in-vehicle networking and cloud connectivity.”
HELLA and Molex showcased solutions based on eSync at this year’s CES2018 exhibition in Las Vegas. Molex and HELLA also are both members of the eSync Alliance, a multi-company initiative for driving a common platform for Over-the-Air (OTA) updating and data gathering in the automotive electronics sector.
