Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Semiconductor developer MTPV gets $6.5M in Series B funding

By James M. Connolly

Clean energy semiconductor company MTPV LLC announced today that it has raised $6.5 million as part of a planned $8 million Series B round.

The company, which is split between Boston and Austin, Texas, is developing semiconductors that convert heat to energy using a new approach drawn from work at MIT and Draper Labs by CEO and founder Bob DiMatteo. Its core technology, Micron-gap ThermalPhotoVoltaics, is designed to increase the efficiency of thermal energy systems.

Among the investors is the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, which had provided some earlier funding for MTPV. Pat Cloney, executive director of the MCEC, said, “These guys are pretty far down the technology road. They are in a customer site with beta products. The potential customer is a manufacturer that has a tremendous amount of waste heat that goes up the stack.” Cloney noted that while MTPV’s technology can be used in applications such as solar energy, waste heat in places like smokestacks is a good opportunity for the technology.

The round was led by returning investor Spinnaker Capital LLC of Boston. It also involved Applied Ventures LLC, which is a venture arm of Applied Materials Inc., and Ensys Capital LLC of Austin.