Deal: Squire Patton Boggs has advised Australia-based global semiconductor success story Morse Micro on its recent $140 million Series B funding round.

Value: $140 million

Area: Venture capital

Key players: The Squire Patton Boggs team was led by partner Richard Horton, with partner Michael Gajic, senior associate Olena Brodovska, and associates Lachlan Hallab, Sophie Davey and David Horton.

Deal significance: Led by Japanese chip design and manufacturing giant MegaChips Corporation, the funding round attracted intense interest, with other investors including Blackbird Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures, Skip Capital, Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Uniseed, SpringCapital, and Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull.

Morse’s Wi-Fi HaLow technology reaches up to 10 times the range of conventional Wi-Fi technology and lasts many years on a single battery. The technology is used in a range of IoT applications, including smart home devices, security systems and supply chain asset tracking for industrial settings.

Michael De Nil, co-founder and chief executive officer of Morse Micro, said that the funding was intended to scale up and capitalise on the demand for its Wi-Fi HaLow technology.

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“With growing market traction for Wi-Fi HaLow-compliant solutions in the IoT ecosystem, we’re at an exciting inflection point. MegaChips shares our vision to revolutionise connectivity and build enduring Wi-Fi HaLow solutions for the future,” he said.

“We are delighted to partner with them, and for the support we’ve had from all of our investors, as we take the next step forward in our company’s journey toward market scale and leadership.”

The transaction also created a new business partnership between Morse and its lead investor, MegaChips. The Japanese company will manufacture Morse Micro’s IEEE 802.11ah-compliant semiconductors and modules and also provide quality assurance, sales support and new distribution channels that will deliver scale across the region. The companies will work together to grow the market for Wi-Fi HaLow solutions across the region.

Mr Horton said it “was an absolute pleasure to help Morse Micro and its highly talented founders and team close one of Australia’s largest venture capital investments with blue-chip local and international investors. Great people and highly innovative, seminal products”.

“Helping clients with expansion-sized funding rounds for US and international growth is a perfect fit for us, and closing another large venture deal in an otherwise challenging environment was particularly satisfying,” he said.