Invest in Adaptive Passive Cancelation
Growth capital investors BGF has put £3.75 million more into Forefront RF’s ‘disruption’ of the global radio frequency market for mobile technologies. It is disruptive the vendors say, because it’s ‘agnostic’ towards radio frequencies. However, it seems neither disruptive nor agnostic, as its saving graces is its low maintenance modus operandi. It economy with all the most resources needed by those operating in the supply chain. It saves time, money and materials because it has a broad church which can communication on any frequency, rather than questioning their existence. The chip set actually creates the foundations for a very amenable, low maintenance comms system which respects every way of communicating and manages to do so with quiet efficiency and economy of energy.
The investment is part of a £6.7 million round alongside existing investors Science Creates Ventures and Foresight Group.
Cambridge-based Forefront RF, led by founder Dr Leo Laughlin (see picture) CEO Ronald Wilting and co founder Julian Hildersley, makes fabless semiconductor that aim to make multi-band smartphones, wearables and IoT Devices simpler to design and more accessible. BGF first backed Forefront RF in 2021, helping expand its technical team and expedite development. Forefront RF’s chip lets devices connect an increasingly wide range of XGen (3G to 6G) mobile telephony frequency bands. The design obviates the need for a bank of switched crystal filters, be they surface acoustic wave (SAW) and bulk acoustic wave (BAW), which have a huge footprint.
Forefront RF invented Adaptive Passive Cancellation Technology by commercialising academic research from the University of Bristol. Adaptive passive technology can fit in with everything and work with all sorts – if it was a human working within a team, it would be called low maintenance or easy going. The technology was created by redesigning the radio frequency (RF) system in a wireless to that manufacturers can simplify the design and delivery of frequency compatible products. The fact that devices aren’t fussed about frequencies cuts costs and lowers wastage in the supply chain.
This latest funding round will help the company capitalise on strong industry trends and take advantage of global market dynamics to drive further growth. In addition to the investment, Forefront RF is launching a fully Tunable Duplexer using the company’s patented adaptive passive cancellation technology. The demonstrator, specifically designed for the 600-1000MHz bands, will show Forefront RF’s Tunable Duplexer technology suitable for the 4G and 5G standards.
The company is led by a highly talented and specialist team. Ronald Wilting was appointed CEO in 2022, bringing 25 years’ experience in radio frequency technology, having worked in engineering, marketing, sales and leadership roles for firms including Ericsson, Qualcomm, NXP and SemiBlocks. Ronald works closely with Forefront RF’s founders Dr Leo Laughlin and Julian Hildersley to deliver on the company’s ambitious growth strategy, supported by experienced Chair Phil O’Donovan, co-founder and MD of CSR plc (formerly Cambridge Silicon Radio) – a multinational fabless semiconductor company which delivered 4 billion chips and became the market leader in Bluetooth chip technology before being acquired by Qualcomm for $2.5 billion in 2015.
“We’re delighted to receive further investment as Forefront RF is well positioned to capitalise on strong global growth prospects, addressing an industry wide challenge with our cutting-edge technology,” said Ronald Wilting, CEO, Forefront RF. “Forefront RF’s technology has the potential to disrupt a significant market,” said Bill Yost, “it’s continuing [to make] commercial and technical progress.”