New US investor backs Limerick chip developer
Limerick chip developer Powervation has launched a new fundraising round, bringing on board New York-based fund Braemar Energy Ventures as a new investor.
A company spokeswoman said the amount raised was confidential, but the firm regarded it as significant that it had secured the backing of a US-based energy technology fund. Braemar director Jiong Ma will now sit on Powervation’s board. Powervation had also experienced an upsurge in new business deals in recent months, the spokeswoman said.
This is the company’s second fundraising round this year, having earlier raised $10 million (€6.7 million) from investors including Intel Capital, Scottish Equity Partners, Venture Tech Alliance and Irish funder 4th Level Ventures. The firm raised $10million in 2007.
Powervation, which is led by chief executive Antoin Russell, develops power conversion chips for use in computing, networking and storage hardware.
The company operates in the new field of digital power conversion. It says its chips are half the size of comparable analogue chips and deliver energy savings of up to 30 per cent.
Earlier this year, it said it had completed development work on its first chip, and said staff numbers could rise to 150 over three years. At that stage, Powervation employed 35 people, 25 of whom were at its Limerick base and the remainder in California and Taiwan.
Russell, who founded the company in 2006 after previously working for power conservation technology company Power-One, was unavailable for comment. In a statement, he said the Braemar investment was an endorsement of the company’s product.
‘‘Despite the weakness in capital markets, technology opportunities in the energy sector continue to hold appeal,” he said, citing research from the Darnell Group, which predicted that digital power controllers would grow to a 30 per cent market share by2 013. Darnell expected cumulative shipments would reach 5 billion units by2 010.
Powervation was recently named start-up of the year for 2009 by the National Microelectronics Institute (NMI), the trade association representing the semiconductor industry in Britain and Ireland.
The company was cited for its ability to raise funds from a global consortium of investors and for achieving market traction for its first chip.
