Press Contact
Maria Montgomerie
Manager Corporate Communications
+46 8 587 919 28, +46 70 64 919 28
maria.montgomerie @industrifonden.se
Press release, 27 June 2008
Industrifonden invests in TranSiC
Stockholm, Sweden, 27 June 2008: Industrifonden is among the investors subscribing to a SEK 24 million stock issue by TranSiC, a clean-tech company. TranSiC is developing silicon carbide power transistors, which are used to control electric motors. The main area of application is on the growing market for electric and hybrid vehicles, known as HEVs.
An electric and hybrid vehicle, which can alternate between a combustion engine and an electric motor, involves more power electronics than a fuel-driven vehicle. The use of TranSiC’s power transistors, which can withstand high temperatures, means there is no need for separate water-based cooling systems for the electronics. This makes it possible to speed up the introduction of hybrid vehicles on a large scale, as the power transistor makes them far easier to design and assemble.
The key feature of the transistor is that it is based on silicon carbide, which means that it can control the electric motor at high capacity operating at higher temperatures than existing silicon transistors can handle.
Sales of silicon carbide components are as yet fairly modest, but TranSiC’s prototypes have already been purchased by some of the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers. The market is expected to show strong growth during the coming seven years, largely owing to the fact that the manufacture and sale of electrical hybrid vehicles will increase sharply between now and 2015.
“TranSiC is well ahead of its competitors, which means it has particularly bright prospects”, says Stefan Jakélius, investment manager at Industrifonden.
Initially, the company also plans to offer the product for other uses. One such use is for solar cell installations, for which TranSiC’s transistors provide more effective alternation between direct current and high voltage alternating current.
“We are very gratified to attract such a stable and long-term investor as Industrifonden,” says Bo Hammarlund, TranSiC’s marketing manager. “We will use the proceeds of the issue mainly to finance a market launch and set up a sales organisation.”
Other co-investors subscribing to the issue include the existing shareholders, Volvo Technology Transfer and Midroc New Technology. Industrifonden is subscribing SEK 13 million.
TranSiC, which is a spin off from technical research at Stockholm’s Royal Institute of Technology, was set up in 2005. The company, whose premises are located in Kista, has eight employees.
This investment brings Industrifonden’s total investment in ten clean-tech companies up to SEK 171 million.
For further information please contact:
Stefan Jakélius, investment manager, Industrifonden: +46 (0) 70 357 21 20,
Bo Hammarlund, marketing manager, TranSiC: +46 (0) 70 741 26 22, or
Maria Montgomerie, information manager, Industrifonden: +46 (0) 70 649 19 28.
www.TranSiC.com