Semtech Invests in COVID Contact Tracing Firm

Semtech Corp. has invested in a company that uses its technology to track COVID-19 infections. The Camarillo semiconductor firm helped Philadelphia-based Microshare Inc. reach $5 million in its current round of funding, the startup said. Microshare has developed a wearable Universal Contact Tracing solution that utilizes Semtech’s LoRaWAN software. The product is a wristband worn by individuals at work to monitor where exposure to COVID-19 might have happened – if an employee tests positive for the virus at a later date. “Closing this round … gives us great confidence in our focus on employing data to reveal what is really going on inside a building,” Ron Rock, chief executive of Microshare, said in a statement. “COVID-19 is making unprecedented demands on anyone who operates physical assets and the market understands there will be no sudden return to the old ways of occupying space.” French Internet of Things leader Kerlink was announced as another “key technology partner” in the project, Microshare said. It has raised more than $20 million from investors since its founding in 2013, originally focused on using IoT data to reveal insights about facilities for the commercial real estate industry. Shares of Semtech (SMTC) closed Thursday up 4 cents, or a fraction of a percent, to $54.13 on the Nasdaq.