ARM-backed power player raises cash

LONDON – Digital power control startup Amantys has closed a funding round of $8 million adding to the $7 million Series A round it closed in July 2011. The money will be used to extend Amantys' reach into overseas markets and attack a broader set of applications. The additional round of funding was again led by Moonray Investors.

Since its formation by former ARM executives in 2010 Amantys Ltd. (Cambridge, England) has introduced a family of gate driver chips able to operate IGBT modules at voltages from 1.2-kV to 3.3-kV. These have been augmented with the introduction of mixed hardware and software platform called Power Insight. This allows digital communications and control techniques to be added to high-voltage power switching.

It is thought that Amantys products are based on a load-balancing/feedback/feed forward mechanism/algorithm developed by the company's chief scientific officer Patrick Palmer, that allows power devices to be operated in series without snubbers and possibly with other efficiency refinements. The algorithm can then be implemented in a digital microcontroller associated with gate-driving circuitry.

Applications for Amantys products are diverse ranging from wind turbine power conversion to traction systems for electrically powered railway locomotives, the company said. It is also compatible with high voltage dc power distribution, which is touted as a more efficient means of distribution for the future of the smart-grid.

"With more exciting new products on the horizon, industry-wide recognition, and equipment demand growing, we expect to continue this success over the next few years," said Bryn Parry, CEO of Amantys, in a statement.

ARM vice president of segment marketing Vincent Korstanje is joining the Amantys board of directors to represent ARM's investment in Amantys. "This is a great example of the "Internet of Things" in which ARM-based processors are used to make a product more efficient by adding sensors, machine-to-machine communication, and remote diagnostics and control," Korstanje said in the same statement.

Amantys recently recruited Steve Evans to the management team, as vice president of marketing. Evans was previously with Frontier Silicon and prior to that with ARM and Hitachi. Amantys entered the Silicon 60, EE Times' list of emerging technology startups in version 14.0 in October 2012.


Related links and articles:

www.amantys.com

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