Transphorm closes $25 Million in Series D funding
24 June 2011
GaN (gallium nitride) power electronics provider Transphorm Inc. (earlier post) has completed a $25 million Series D financing round with Quantum Strategic Partners Ltd., a private investment fund managed by Soros Fund Management LLC, and existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Google Ventures, Foundation Capital and Lux Capital.
This brings the total capital raised from all rounds to $63 million. Transphorm says its Total GaN solution reduces power waste by 90%, and simplifies the design and manufacturing of a wide variety of electrical systems and devices, including motor drives, power supplies and inverters for solar panels and electric vehicles. In recent months Transphorm has increased its customer set by 50%, and expanded its operations by 30% to accommodate demand.
The world’s power infrastructure must become radically more efficient to meet the energy and environmental challenges of the future. Inefficient electric power conversion results in lost energy that costs the United States economy $40 billion a year and is equivalent to the output of 300 coal plants.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) awarded Transphorm $2.95 million to invent beyond state-of-the-art, normally-off GaN switches while moving their GaN platform to low-cost silicon substrates.
The current USA e-power conversion lost energy is certainly exaggerated as been equivalent to 300 coal fired power plants or $40/years. If it was true, it would be an easy way to close those polluting plants.
However, world wide competition between SiC and GaN units will be interesting and should benefit future electrified vehicles, machinery, appliances, chargers, etc.
Posted by: HarveyD | 24 June 2011 at 09:20 AM