Israel's N-trig nabs Microsoft investment

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - N-trig, which makes a dual-mode pen and touch input device for computers, said on Monday it raised $24 million from investors, including Aurum Ventures, Challenger Ltd, Canaan Partners, Evergreen Venture Partners and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O).

With this new round of funding, N-trig said it plans to continue working with leading original equipment manufacturers to create multi-touch notebooks and convertible computers for the mainstream marketplace.

"With the introduction of multi-touch in Windows 7, integrated with N-trig's DuoSense technology, our customers will have a new and natural way to interact with their PCs," said Ian LeGrow, group program manager for Windows Client at Microsoft. "By simulating the way people write and touch naturally, N-trig is helping to make it easier to navigate your PC."

N-trig's touch technology is currently deployed in Dell's Latitude XT, and was recently launched on HP's TouchSmart tx2. The company also plans to announce more OEM design wins in the coming year.

N-trig is headquartered in Israel, with offices in Austin, Texas and Taipei.

(Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by Rupert Winchester)