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Funding will accelerate Cambridge GaN Device’s (CGD) deployment of energy-efficient devices, reshaping the future of power electronics.
Dr Giorgia Longobardi
Prof Florin Udrea
CGD has raised $9.5 million in Series A funding. The investment was co-led by IQ Capital, Parkwalk Advisors, and BGF, and joined by Cambridge Enterprise, Foresight Williams, Martlet Capital, Cambridge Angels, and Cambridge Capital Group. CDG will use the funding to expand its product portfolio of energy-efficient power devices and to double the size of its team.
Co-founded by Dr Giorgia Longobardi and Professor Florin Udrea (pictured above), CGD spun out of the renowned Electrical Power and Energy Conversion Group in Cambridge’s Department of Engineering in 2016. The company is developing a revolutionary technology in power devices, a market worth in excess of $30 billion. The company’s core business is designing, developing, and commercialising power transistors and integrated circuits based on the most energy-efficient material available, gallium nitride (GaN).
GaN power devices are significantly higher performing than state-of-the-art silicon-based devices, enabling significant reductions in the size and weight of power converters, while producing energy efficiencies higher than 99%. CGD’s range of GaN transistors are customised for key applications in market segments such as consumer and industrial Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS), lighting, data centres, and automotive HEV/EV. The higher efficiency of CGD devices, combined with the unique ease-of-use introduced by the company’s proprietary IP, will allow CGD GaN to easily replace silicon in key applications. They will also enable more compact power systems and better use of energy resources.
CDG is based on 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 company is currently leading a $10 million European-funded project with 13 industrial and academic partners across Europe, GaNext, developing GaN-based modules for low and high-power applications.
Dr Longobardi was co-winner of the Cambridge Enterprise’s Postdoc Business Plan Competition 2016, securing a £20,000 initial investment.
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Image: Cambridge GaN Devices power device