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Wise-integration, a French pioneer in digital control of gallium nitride (GaN) and GaN ICs for power supplies, announced financing of €15 million. The Series B round wasled by imec.xpand, with participation from Supernova Invest, BNP Paribas Developpement, Région Sud Investissement (RSI), Creazur, CASRA Capital and Angels for Greentech.
The round will fuel mass production and commercial deployment of the company’s flagship products, WiseGan® and WiseWare®, its disruptive digital-control technology, and its support for clients globally as they adopt these solutions. It included the five investors from the previous funding and three new investors.
CEO Thierry Bouchet said, “The €15 million of new funding will accelerate the company’sinternational expansion, ongoing R&D programs and the introduction of new products and solutions. “This funding will enable Wise-integration to accelerate our commercial development and product development and the launch of a new generation of high-performance GaN technology, which is designed to seamlessly integrate with digital controls and boost the efficiency and performance of power systems across various sectors,” Bouchet continued. “A third roadmap focus will be to broaden our WiseWare® product development, targeting high-value markets, such as industrial, telecom and automotive sectors.”
Since its launch in 2020, the fabless company has established itself as an award-winning innovator in the power electronics industry, building a portfolio of more than 10 patent families. WiseGan® encompasses GaN power integrated circuits designed to maximize the benefits of GaN technology, including higher power density, efficiency and reduced heat generation. WiseWare® is a 32-bit, MCUbased, AC-DC digital controller optimized for GaN-based power supply architectures, offering simplified system design, a lower bill of materials and improved power density and efficiency.
The company’s target markets include consumer electronics, from laptops to e-bikes, scooters and motorcycles, to industrial applications like robotics, as well as data centers and electric vehicles. All its solutions address the increasing demands for miniaturization, electrification and efficient power management.
Wise-integration has established a first-class semiconductor GaN supply chain to support its mass production and commercialization strategy, while ensuring the most competitive costs in the market.
“Wise-integration’s GaN technology can play a significant role in the global shift to electrification by enhancing the efficiency and performance of power systems across various sectors,” said Cyril Vančura, imec.xpand partner. “In the four years since its founding, this start-up has demonstrated the vision, drive, execution and technological knowhow to deliver game-changing power-electronics solutions, and we look forward to witnessing the next phase of its growth journey.”
“With this new funding, Supernova Invest reaffirms its support for Wise-integration, a CEA-Leti spinoff that we have trusted since its creation,” said Damien Bretegnier, investment director, Supernova Invest. “We strongly believe in the huge potential of its WiseWare® digital control technology and associated WiseGan® components, anticipating a profound revolution in the power conversion market that propels GaN technology to replace legacy solutions even more rapidly.”
“Wise-integration is one of the finest up and-coming companies in the hardware sector, a key sector in our beautiful region,” said Pierre Joubert, general director of RSI. “A high-potential company with a top management team, it fits in perfectly with the investment thesis of our Transition fund and its 100 percent Paris Agreement strategy. It has all the assets to become one of the strong links in the regional economic development strategy.”
Original – Wise-integration
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Okmetic is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its North American sales office. Okmetic Inc. was established in Allen, Texas in 1999 to strengthen Okmetic sales and technical support to the North American customer base. The Okmetic, Inc. office continues to be based in Allen, Texas with local commercial support across North America.
Initially, the business was focused on selected silicon products but has since expanded to support not only traditional semiconductor materials but also engineered products used for the Communication, RF filter, MEMS, Power, and AI just to highlight a few. The NA customer region, along with the European and Asian regions, work together using a balanced approach to serve the Okmetic worldwide market.
The team at Okmetic Inc. continues to be recognized for support efforts in the industry. Some of these include supplier award recognition, numerous conference speaking and exhibiting engagements, as well as a lifetime achievement recognition for company’s participation with organizations such as SEMI.
“We want to thank our customers for entrusting us to be a key component of their business growth strategy, inspiring us to continuously raise the bar and cooperatively develop silicon products that enable our lives each day. As we continue to expand our capacity to build for our future, we are excited to partner more closely with our customers to develop the needed products and support to enable their ongoing business needs “, says Jim Reed, President of Okmetic Inc.
Original – Okmetic
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Ideal Power Inc. reported the results for its fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2023.
“We made great progress delivering against our B-TRAN™ commercial roadmap in 2023 and that progress has continued into 2024,” said Dan Brdar, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ideal Power. “Strong momentum continues with participants in our test and evaluation program, particularly for solid-state circuit breaker and hybrid and electric vehicle applications. We expect to convert large OEMs into design wins and/or additional custom development agreements this year.”
Brdar continued, “We recently completed Phase II of our development agreement with Stellantis and commenced shipment of SymCool™ power modules to fulfill customer orders. We expect industrial markets, particularly the solid-state circuit breaker market served by our SymCool™ power module, to be the earliest source of our product sales ramp.”
Key Fourth Quarter and Recent Operational Highlights
- Commenced commercial shipment of SymCool™ power modules to fulfill customer orders. The SymCool™ power module targets several applications including solid-state switchgear and circuit protection, renewable energy inverters for solar and wind, industrial inverters, hybrid and electric vehicles (“EVs”) and EV charging.
- Successfully completed Phase II of a product development program with Stellantis, a top 10 global automaker. All Phase II deliverables were completed ahead of schedule including a wafer run and deliveries of tested B-TRAN™ devices, drivers and a Stellantis approved comprehensive reliability test plan for automotive qualification. Ideal Power is partnering with Stellantis’ advanced technology development team to develop a custom B-TRAN™ power module for use in EV drivetrain inverters in Stellantis’ next generation EV platform.
- Stellantis recognized Ideal Power and its program with Stellantis as a finalist in the 2023 Stellantis Venture Awards, which was the result of the excellent performance of the commercial B-TRAN™ devices provided to the Stellantis team for testing and evaluation.
- Released B-TRAN™ and SymCool™ videos and application notes for the technical audience at prospective customers, resulting in the addition of new opportunities to our sales funnel. The videos demonstrate the testing of discrete B-TRAN™ devices and SymCool™ power modules and the compelling advantages B-TRAN™ offers to solid-state circuit breaker applications.
- Nearing completion of a qualification run with our second high-volume wafer fabrication partner. This wafer fab in Europe will support future revenue growth and add dual sourcing for wafer fabrication.
- B-TRAN™ Patent Estate: Currently at 82 issued B-TRAN™ patents with 36 of those issued outside of the United States and 39 pending B-TRAN™ patents. Current geographic coverage includes North America, China, Japan, South Korea, India, and Europe, with pending coverage in Taiwan.
Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Financial Results
- Commercial revenue increased to $61,483 in the fourth quarter of 2023 from $0 in the fourth quarter of 2022. Commercial revenue increased to $161,483 for the full year 2023 from $0 for the full year 2022.
- Grant revenue was $0 in the fourth quarter of 2023 and $37,388 for the full year 2023 compared to $16,608 in the fourth quarter of 2022 and $203,269 for the full year 2022.
- Operating expenses in the fourth quarter of 2023 were $2.5 million compared to $2.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 driven primarily by higher research and development spending.
- Operating expenses in the full year 2023 were $10.4 million compared to $7.3 million in the full year 2022 driven primarily by higher research and development spending and stock-based compensation expense.
- Net loss in the fourth quarter of 2023 was $2.4 million compared to $1.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. Net loss in the full year 2023 was $10.0 million compared to $7.2 million in the full year 2022.
- Cash used in operating, investing and financing activities in the fourth quarter of 2023 was $2.3 million compared to $2.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. Cash used in operating, investing and financing activities in the full year 2023 was $7.9 million compared to $6.8 million in the full year 2022.
- Cash and cash equivalents totaled $8.5 million at December 31, 2023.
- No long-term debt was outstanding at December 31, 2023.
2024 Milestones
For 2024, the Company has set or achieved the following milestones:
- Successfully completed Phase II of development program with Stellantis
- Secure Phase III of development program with Stellantis
- Complete qualification of second high-volume production fab
- Convert large OEMs in our test and evaluation program to design wins/custom development agreements
- Add distributors for SymCool™ products
- Initial sales of SymCool™ IQ intelligent power module
- Begin third-party automotive qualification testing
Original – Ideal Power
