Irvine-based chipmaker WiSpry Inc. has raised $8 million in a funding round, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company could raise another $5 million in the current funding round, according to the filing. It has raised nearly $71 million over the course of its 12 years as an independent enterprise, according to San Francisco funding tracker CrunchBase.
WiSpry specializes in radio-frequency chips used in mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. It makes microscopic machines that are thousandths of an inch in size and go on chips that help extend battery life, make for fewer dropped calls and allow for slimmer, sleeker phones.
WiSpry is known as a fabless chipmaker since it doesn’t own any foundries. It struck a deal in 2009 to have chips made at an IBM plant in Burlington, Vt. It also has suppliers in Malaysia.
WiSpry is the 20th largest chipmaker in OC with 29 local employees and 42 companywide, according to Business Journal research.
The company was formed in 2002, when it split from the radio frequency and wireless business unit of Austin, Texas-based Coventor Inc.
