|
A Cambridge semiconductor company has received a major endorsement of its planet-saving technology in the form a £2m investment from The Carbon Trust - part of a bumper £13m Series C funding round.
The £13m round raised by Cambridge-based, CamSemi is one of the largest VC rounds for a fabless semiconductor company this year.
The proceeds will be used support its cleantech semiconductor technology which stands to save up to 90 per cent of the power wasted by electrical products on standby.
The newest round of funding, CamSemi's third, was led by 3i along with existing shareholders Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) and TTP Ventures, and will support the commercialisation of the Cambridge University spin-out's energy efficiency products which address a large gap in the market for today's power-hungry electronic devices.
"CamSemi is probably one of Europe’s top three emerging fabless semiconductor companies," said partner at 3i and CamSemi board member, Laurence Garrett.
"The company has developed a number of patented, proprietary technologies; is developing a portfolio of compelling products that target a major unmet need; and has built a world-class management and engineering capability."
CamSemi is developing sophisticated integrated circuits (ICs) that will allow manufacturers to introduce cost-efficient mains-connected converters and battery chargers with the potential to reduce losses during normal operation by two-thirds and improve standby energy efficiency by a massive factor of ten.
"Standby power is an important issue for consumer electronic equipment manufacturers owing to both rising energy costs and the emergence of green consumers who are concerned about their carbon footprint," said Adam Workman, a partner at Carbon Trust Investments.
"There are also several pieces of impending legislation that will force manufacturers to reduce energy consumption when their products are in standby mode."
It is estimated that consumer electronic equipment will be responsible for an extraordinary 45 per cent of household energy consumption by 2020, requiring the equivalent of 14 power stations to run, a figure which could see dramatic improvement with the widespread implementation of CamSemi's technology.
"Linear power supplies typically operate with power conversion efficiencies of 50 per cent or even less and standby consumptions of 1W," explained CamSemi's CEO, David Baillie.
"However, products based on CamSemi’s C2470 controllers offer very significant improvements with figures of around 85 per cent and 100 mW respectively. Our first products are already available to the worldwide market and shipping in volume.
"The C2470 family of controllers allows manufacturers for the first time to replace bulky, low cost and power-hungry linear supplies with a simple, cost competitive and much more energy efficient approach," he continued.
|
Delicious
Digg
NewsVine
Reddit
Technorati