This is called a major trigger. The Bromont manufacturer Boréas Technologies announced Thursday morning that it had completed $12 million in financing to increase the production of its semiconductors, which are very popular both in personal electronics and in automobiles.
Since its founding in 2016, Boréas has developed haptic touch technology capable of reproducing the click of a switch button on contact with the finger or simulating the resistance of a spring behind a trigger. Imagine a controller for Sony’s PlayStation 5 console, but better, illustrates its CEO, Simon Chaput. Or the side button on a smartphone that acts like the shutter on a professional camera. All this, without any mechanical parts.
“In the car, we are at the level of the controls on the steering wheel or on the dashboard,” continues the Harvard doctoral student. “Manufacturers prefer smooth, solid surfaces, to which they add a haptic module like ours to improve the experience. We can create a click, but we can also modulate to recreate a double click or resistance. And it’s compact enough to fit in a phone. »
This technology is nested. Anyone who has sat in a car recently (or tapped a laptop’s touchpad) understands that it’s very popular these days in anything that even remotely resembles a computer interface. It inexpensively replaces fragile, less durable and more bulky mechanical components.
All the biggest names in the world of mobility – Apple, Nissan, Sony, etc. – use technology similar to that of Boréas for their products.
Like other equipment manufacturers, the Bromont SME with around fifty employees cannot disclose to whom, among these large manufacturers, it sells its components. What it can say, however, is that it works with brands among the “five or six” best known in the wireless, personal computing and automobile markets.
To date, it has produced several hundred thousand copies of haptic semiconductors for its customers. The 12 million dollars that it has just raised from local and foreign investors, including Desjardins Capital and Export Development Canada, will allow it to increase the rate to a few tens of millions of units per year, probably from 2025.
Bromont, California, Asia
2023 has been a busy year for Boréas, which started the year by visiting the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where it hoped to land a few new customers. The company then entered into an agreement with a computer component subcontractor closely associated with the Dell, HP and Lenovo brands. This helped boost its year-to-date revenues by more than 300% compared to 2022.
And 2024 promises to be even busier, according to Simon Chaput, who confirms the hiring of two new managers established in California and Asia and whose mandate will be to represent Boréas in these two markets. These are the two most hotspots on the planet for technologies like his.
And yet, the firm proudly displays its Estrie roots. Bromont aims to establish itself as the North American hub for the manufacturing of semiconductors and other electronic components. There is already an IBM factory there, and others could be added soon. For its part, Boréas initially set up shop in the premises of the MiQro Innovation Collaboration Center (C2MI), a major incubator for electronic systems also established in Bromont.
Simon Chaput today recognizes the importance of having obtained such a boost to launch his business. “The C2MI is one of the reasons why we are established in Quebec,” says Simon Chaput. “It allows new businesses to access state-of-the-art infrastructure. As companies like Boréas establish themselves in Bromont, it will create an increasingly sustainable ecosystem. »
In any case, it allowed Boréas to be present in consumer electronic devices that are sold all over the world… including in Quebec.