CIA Invests In ZigBee Chip Maker

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Ember Corp. on Thursday (Oct. 20) announced a strategic investment and development agreement with In-Q-Tel, a private venture group established by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Ember (Boston), a developer of ZigBee-based wireless chips, will use the investment to develop wireless sensor, monitoring and control technology.

“Ember is the market leader with a mature platform that has been successfully deployed in a variety of applications around the world,” said Gilman Louie, president and CEO of In-Q-Tel, in a statement. “We believe their technology has great potential to improve the security and efficiency of government and defense operations.”

To date, Ember has secured approximately $53 million in financing. Investors include Polaris Venture Partners,GrandBanks Capital, DFJ New England, RRE Ventures, DFJ ePlanet, Stata Venture Partners, Vulcan Capital, WestAM, CTTV Investments LLC, and Hitachi.