Intellectual Ventures may be best known for its huge archive of patents and its willingness to pursue lawsuits in defense of those patents, but it's also a part-time incubator to promising start-ups.
On Tuesday, the firm announced that it was spinning off Kymeta, an antenna technology company, which itself has just announced that raised $12 million in financing from Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, Liberty Global and Lux Capital.
The start-up uses a lightweight material called metamaterials to produce antennas designed to improve satellite connections used for broadband Internet.
“Metamaterials were an early focus for I.V., so the spinout of Kymeta marks an important milestone in our invention work,†Casey Tegreene, an Intellectual Ventures executive vice president, said in a statement on Tuesday. “As groundbreaking as it is, though, the satellite antenna technology behind Kymeta only scratches the surface of what metamaterials can do.â€
It is the second business to spin out of Intellectual Ventures, which operates in a controversial sector in Silicon Valley. The company owns and licenses tens of thousands of patents and goes after companies that violate its intellectual property, prompting some of its critics to call them a “patent troll.â€
Intellectual Ventures has received financing from industry giants like Microsoft, Apple and Cisco. Besides Kymeta, the firm incubated TerraPower, a nuclear power start-up (also backed by Mr. Gates) that became an independent company in 2008.
