ISKN

Crédit Mutuel Innovation, a subsidiary of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, is now a key shareholder of ISKN after leading the fundraising round alongside IXO Private Equity. They join Partech Partners, C4 Ventures and Amorçage Technologique Investissement, which have been shareholders since 2014. The money raised will enable Iskn, which has revenue of €5 million and employs 37 people, to use its technology in new applications and conquer new international markets.

Iskn was spun out of Grenoble research institute CEA-Leti and was founded in 2014 by three scientists. It has developed a revolutionary technology allowing people to write or draw on real paper, using any kind of pencil or pen, and see their creations digitised in real time. Users place a magnetised ring on their pencil or pen. That ring is located by a matrix of magnetometers, which captures the line being drawn and digitises it. Currently the company is marketing this technology via a tablet called the Slate, which is capable of digitising handwriting and drawings in real time. It is mainly aimed at art lovers and illustrators, but also at designers and architects. With its technology, which is the only one of its kind in the world, Iskn supports this most natural of creative processes by turning a normal pencil into a digital tool at low cost. The company plans to develop new versions of the Slate aimed at different audiences, and is also developing other applications, two of which will be launched in 2019.

China, where there is a particular emphasis on teaching calligraphy in schools, is a priority market for Iskn's management. For several years, the Chinese government has been seeking to accelerate an educational transition towards placing more emphasis on learning the fundamentals of reading and writing. "Schoolchildren still learn calligraphy using paper and pencils," explains Iskn's CEO Jean-Luc Vallejo. "The artificial intelligence associated with our product will correct their errors in real time and will help teachers to give students more personal support."

"We were attracted by the multidisciplinary nature of Iskn's team, which has shown its ability to develop a product and bring it to market in less than two years. Iskn has also registered 23 patents and its technology has vast potential to be used in new markets like edutainment and gaming, where volumes could be large," added Stéphane Simoncini, Principal at Crédit Mutuel Innovation (formely CM-CIC Innovation).

"With the Slate, Iskn has proven capable of deploying cutting-edge technology in a B2C market and of addressing the design, manufacturing and distribution issues involved in marketing a mass consumer electronics product. By first focusing on an international niche market, Jean-Luc Vallejo and his team have, in only four years, acquired experience that will enable them to meet new challenges in higher-volume markets in future," said Baptiste Martin-Wurmser, Principal at iXO Private Equity.

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