Australia’s largest semiconductor maker Morse Micro has topped up its Series B funding with an additional $30 million from the superannuation sector to pocket a total of $170 million.

The Aussie tech company’s Series B funding was announced in September, anchored by a $100 million injection from Japanese chip giant MegaChips.

TelstraSuper, HESTA, Hostplus and NGS (managed by Blackbird Ventures) and UniSuper (managed by Uniseed) participated in this latest top up.

They join Main Sequence Ventures, Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Skip Capital, and Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull.

“We weren’t really looking for more money, but it’s fantastic to get,” said co-founder and CEO Michael de Nil.

“Especially the superannuation funds, it’s money from the average working Australian and being able to bring them in is just fantastic.

“There was some interest already from some of those institutional investors. We decided to just close that round and then further explore a top-up round.

“There is definitely a lot of value for us in getting those institutionals involved in Morse Micro.”

The extra cash will help Morse Micro expand its sales pipeline into Japan, as well as bolster the manufacturing of its Wi-Fi HaLow chips, which it sells to companies for use in various smart home products.

Morse Micro’s chips give ten times the reach of other Wi-Fi technology, and are extremely energy efficient, lasting numerous years on a single battery.

It has also taken over a third floor in its Surry Hills office, and hired 50 more staffers.

“We’re very different from many other start-ups in Australia,” de Nil said.

“We are a deep tech start-up and it takes quite a bit of money to build these amazing products.

“I feel privileged to be working with so many great investors, and then have them trust us and help us scale the business.”