University of Nottingham spinout The Thinking Pod innovations (TTPi) has secured £340,000 in its first investment round.
TTPi claims to have developed groundbreaking technology in collaboration with the university to boost the efficiency and range of electric cars.
The company was founded in 2017 and to date, the firm has been funded through grants from Innovate UK, UKRI, Driving the Electric Revolution and income generated from commercial development agreements with partners such as Advanced Electric Machines, National Grid ESO and Infineon Technologies.
The growing company has now sought external equity investment for the first time which will be used to commercialise its power electronics technology.
The funding round has been backed by academics in the field of power electronics, as well as friends and family of co-founders Professor Lee Empringham and Dr Liliana de Lillo.
TTPi’s novel technology enables the creation of smaller, lighter, more efficient power converters and motor drive systems, which are essential in electric vehicles, aircraft, and any dynamic industrial processes that rely on electricity as a power source.
Currently, these components can be bulky and heavy, but using TTPi’s knowledge and applications allows them to be packaged into lightweight, compact units that the spinout claim will produce major savings in terms of precious raw material use, energy and cost, and deliver a better performance compared to anything currently available.
“The support for TTPi from fellow academics friends and family is exceptional,” said company chairman David Whelan, who has over 35 years of business development experience.
“I have been working with spin-outs for 15 years and this shows what the investors feel about Lee and Liliana and their colleagues, as well as the future of the company, the technology it is developing and where that can go.”
The market for more compact and efficient electric vehicle (high-voltage DC-DC) power converters alone, is estimated to be $1.46 billion in 2024, rising to $2.82 billion in 2029.
Professor Emprimgham added: “TTPi is ideally placed to help meet challenges and supply growing markets with state-of-the-art power dense, efficient and sustainable solutions, which includes power converters and motor drive systems.”
TTPi was founded in 2017 and spun out of the University of Nottingham in 2020.