Cambridge GaN Devices has raised £25m in Series C funding.
CGD was spun out of the engineering department of the University of Cambridge in 2016 to exploit a revolutionary technology in power devices.
The company’s core business is to design, develop and commercialise power transistors and integrated circuits based on the most energy-efficient material available, Gallium Nitride.
These can operate at much higher switching frequency, delivering improved performance while increasing energy savings by as much as 50%.
The company is the result of decades of research in power devices and GaN reliability carried out with world leading organisations in the field, and through several partnerships and collaborations.
The investment was led by a strategic investor and supported by existing investors Foresight Group, BGF, Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), Parkwalk, IQ Capital and with participation from British Patient Capital.
The firm, founded by Dr Giorgia Longobardi and Prof. Florin Udrea, has developed a new architecture that makes its GaN chips a like-for-like replacement for silicon chip devices but with greater efficiency.
It says its devices could potentially save millions of tons of CO2 emissions in applications such as data centre power supplies.
“This funding round marks a pivotal moment for CGD. It validates our technology and vision to revolutionise the power electronics industry with our efficient GaN solutions and make sustainable power electronics possible,” said Dr Longobardi, CEO.
“We’re now poised to accelerate our growth and make a significant impact in reducing energy consumption across multiple sectors. We look forward to collaborating with our strategic investor to penetrate the automotive market.”
Rubina Singh, senior investment manager at Foresight Group, added: “We are delighted to continue backing the ambitious CGD team in bringing groundbreaking GaN technologies to market.
“As we strive towards a low carbon future, CGD’s products can deliver higher performance while enabling up to 50% energy savings across multiple growing sectors such as automotive, renewable energy and data centres. We look forwarding to seeing the impact that CGD can make in enabling greener power electronics.”