The funds will allow the company to accelerate the industrialization and development of its products
Meylan, France, September 27, 2021 – Wise-integration, which designs and develops electronic components in GaN (gallium nitride) technology to miniaturize chargers, announced today that it has raised €2.7 million in a first round of financing. Supernova Invest led this first investment round, accompanied by Region Sud Investissement, Angels for Greentech, Crédit Agricole Alpes Développement and the Foreis endowment fund.
The funds will be used to finalize the industrialization of the first generation of WiseGan semiconductor components to bring them to market by 2022. They will also allow the finalization of the development and qualification of the revolutionary WiseWare® power conversion platform. This platform brings a real benefit to chargers and power supplies manufacturers by considerably reducing the size, consumption, and cost of these energy conversion systems. The benefit is particularly noticeable for medium power applications from 30W to 3kW in the consumer, electric mobility, industrial and telecom (data centers) markets.
This first successful financing demonstrates the interest and confidence of investors in the technology and the company. The company was created in February 2020 by its four cofounders: Thierry Bouchet, Dominique Bergogne, Rym Hamoumou and Florian Couvin. The project incubated at CEA-Leti had received initial seed funding as a winner of the i-Lab 2019 competition. This innovation competition is organized by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, in partnership with Bpifrance.
Thierry Bouchet, President of Wise-integration said: “We are very pleased and motivated by the confidence that the support of leading French investors has given us. The major advantage of our technology is our ability to significantly increase the integration of power supplies while improving the energy conversion efficiency and the cost of the systems. Our privileged access to the GaN technology available from the world leader TSMC gives us a significant production capacity at an attractive cost to address the mass market”.
Today, chargers have become a major challenge for electronic system manufacturers to meet the growing need for fast charging, compactness for mobility and reduction of electrical energy consumption to reduce our carbon footprint. Wise-integration technology allows to reduce up to 6 times the size, weight, and energy consumption of systems.
Damien Bretegnier, Investment Manager at Supernova Invest, said “We at Supernova Invest are convinced of the superiority of Wise-integration’s technology, which is the result of several years of research conducted at CEA-Leti. Their unique and patented approach allows to considerably simplify and optimize conversion architectures, and thus to lighten and reduce the size of laptop, smartphone and tablet chargers or to reduce energy losses in data centers. A true DeepTech startup, with a highly differentiating disruptive innovation, very ambitious in a fast-growing global market and perfectly aligned with Supernova Invest’s DNA ” “Region Sud Investissement is particularly proud to participate in the development of Wiseintegration. Firstly, because the GaN market is very promising and the team, which we have been following for a long time (from CEA Leti), is solid and experienced. Secondly, because this project fits in perfectly with the ecosystem of the SUD region, which is a fertile ground for the semiconductor industry,” says Pierre Joubert, Managing Director of Région Sud Investissement.
Thierry Arnaud, partner of Angels for Greentech, said: “Angels for Greentech, an investmentcompany of the Angelor group, is very proud to contribute to the development of Wiseintegration. The quality of the team and the disruptive nature of the innovation developed by Wise-integration make us very confident in the capacity of this project to reveal its strong potential“.
Rami Hassoun, investment officer at Crédit Agricole Alpes Développement, added: “Wiseintegration combines the strength of an expert and agile team with a unique positioning in its market. We are delighted to be able to contribute to the exponential development of this company.
“Foreis is very proud to contribute to the development of Wise-integration, a promisingcompany in GaN integrated circuit power solutions, which will help create innovation and jobs in France in the high-tech semiconductor industry,” said Jean-Yves Muller, President of the Foreis Endowment Fund.
Legal advice for Wise-integration: Alcya Conseil Grenoble.
Legal counsel to the investors: Chammas & Marcheteau Paris
About Supernova Invest
Supernova Invest is the pioneering and leading deeptech investment company in France,
managing and advising 5 funds totalling €260 million. A specialist in investing in disruptive
technology start-ups, Supernova Invest focuses its expertise on industry, healthcare, energy
and the environment, and digital. Its team’s 20 years of experience in technology investment
has enabled it to accompany more than 100 of the most innovative companies in their
segments, from inception to maturity. Supernova benefits from a privileged partnership with
the CEA (a major player in research, development and innovation) and Amundi (a leading
European asset management company).
www.supernovainvest.com
About RSI
Région Sud Investissement is the regional investment company created in 2010 by the South
Region to support the emergence and development of growth companies. Région Sud
Investissement, with a capital of €134m, receives 42% of its capacity from the European Union
through the ERDF fund. Région Sud Investissement is advised by Turenne Groupe for the
management of its equity investments.
www.regionsudinvestissement.com
Contact: Pierre Joubert – p.joubert@regionsudinvestissement.com
About Angelor
Angelor is a venture capital player in Auvergne Rhône-Alpes created in 2008. Their mission is
to finance and support the growth of young companies whose innovations have a good impact
on mankind and its environment.
https://angelor.fr
About Foreis
Foreis is an ethical endowment fund focused on innovative technologies in the industrial
microelectronics sector, whose objective is to support the creation of technical value and to
contribute to job creation in France.
Jean-Yves Muller, President, jy.mullet@foreis.fr
www.foreis.fr
About Wise-integration
Wise-integration is a French deeptech start-up, originating from the CEA and founded in
February 2020. Based in Aix en Provence and Grenoble, it specializes in the design and
development of disruptive power electronics solutions based on GaN technology.
By combining both a GaN component (WiseGan®) and an advanced AC-DC system architecture
with software (WiseWare), Wise-integration opens the possibility of a charger up to 6x
smaller, 5x more efficient and 4x lighter from 30W to 3kW. The combination of these 2
innovations targets 3 markets: consumer, e-mobility and data center server, while decreasing
their energy losses by the same factor, reaching performance levels defying all competition.
www.wise-integration.com
Media Contact
Rym Hamoumou
Rym.hamoumou@wise-integration.com
06 89 58 33 88
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