Furuno Acquires eRide:

Furuno Electric Co., Ltd. has acquired eRide, Inc., making eRide a majority-owned subsidiary of Furuno. The acquisition enables eRide and Furuno to jointly develop future generations of market leading GPS technology and products.

Furuno and eRide have had a long and successful relationship. In 2005 Furuno and eRide entered into a technology licensing agreement, and in the following year the relationship was strengthened when Furuno invested in eRide’s sale of Series A Preferred Shares. This relationship now culminates with Furuno acquiring a majority of eRide shares, and eRide becoming a majority-owned subsidiary of Furuno.

eRide, a San-Francisco-based fabless venture company established in 1999 by former Trimble Navigation employees, has been engaged in the design, development and sales of high sensitivity GPS receiver technology. Through this acquisition eRide’s high sensitivity GPS technology, LSI design technology and intellectual property will be merged with Furuno’s GPS core technology to enable the creation of new world-class GPS products.

Furuno is known for its GPS modules and chip sets in Japan’s automobile industry, especially for in-car navigation systems. The market demand for lower cost and higher quality GPS has been increasing and applications in Japan have spread into many different areas. Through this acquisition, Furuno strengthens its ability to provide its customers with a stable supply of market-specific GPS products that are high quality, high performance, and low cost.

Educational Discounts Available:

Furuno GPS/OEM is pleased to offer significant discounts to educational facilities for a wide variety of academic applications. Please contact us for more information.