New investment in Menlo Micro
Santa Clara, Calif.-Dec 22, 2016 -(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, Vertical Venture Partners announced their investment in Menlo Micro, a new spinout from GE’s Global Research Center. Menlo is productizing technology which has re-invented one of the most fundamental building blocks of electronic systems – the electronic switch. The company’s disruptive Digital-Micro-Switch platform is strongly positioned to enable end products serving multiple industry verticals – including healthcare, aviation and energy. Menlo Micro is also backed by strategic investments from semiconductor solutions provider – Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC), materials science powerhouse – Corning, as well as Paladin Capital Group and GE Ventures.
The fundamental electromechanical relay hasn’t experienced significant innovation in the past 50 years. While superior high-power handling and electrical performance have allowed electromechanical relays to continue to flourish in many market segments, their limitations in size, speed, cost, and reliability present major challenges to system designers. Menlo’s unique approach to solving problems through advanced material science allows it to offer unprecedented power handling (kilowatts) and superior electrical performance in a micromechanical device with the size, speed, cost and reliability of a solid-state device. This enables dozens of high value applications including DC, AC and RF products, covering such diverse markets as battery management, home-automation, electric vehicles, medical instrumentation, and wireless base stations.
GE, with its broad expertise in advanced materials, MEMS processing, and high power system design, has invested over 12 years of R&D into the Digital-Micro-Switch technology, producing over 60 patent families, and a series of GE-qualified DMS products. Now, Menlo Micro will focus on bringing this revolutionary technology to the broader market, expanding development of the technology and its reach across industries.
“Menlo Micro’s DMS technology allows us to create something which is as close as possible to the ‘ideal switch.’ Not only has it been proven to be reliable, with tens of thousands of units already shipped in the field, but it truly is a scalable design platform. This will give us the ability to address applications from milliwatts to kilowatts, and bring disruption to many different end markets,” said Russ Garcia, CEO of Menlo Micro. “This is truly an exciting time, and we are excited to get this unique technology into the hands of the world’s most creative system designers, to see what amazing products they can create, enabling the future power of IoT, communications and beyond.”
About Vertical Venture Partners
Vertical Venture Partners is a venture capital firm focused on investments in companies that target specific vertical markets. Some vertical markets of interest include retail, healthcare, energy, transportation, insurance, financial services and telecommunications. Some technology areas of interest include: analytical applications, cloud applications, mobile, CRM, cyber-security, software infrastructure, scientific instruments and materials science. Vertical Venture Partners will invest at any stage of a company’s growth and can help companies accelerate their business. For more information, interested parties may contact VVP at info@verticalventurepartners.com.
About Menlo Micro
Headquartered in Irvine, California, Menlo Micro is reimagining one of the most fundamental building blocks of electronic systems – the electronic switch. The company’s Digital-Micro-Switch platform is a game changer for those who design electronic systems, serving multiple industries including next generation 5G mobile networks, industrial IoT markets, battery management, home-automation, electronic vehicles and medical instrumentation. Menlo Micro is backed by GE Ventures, with investments from Corning, Microsemi Corporation, and Paladin Capital Group and Vertical Venture Partners.
Contact:
Doreen Thawley
doreen@verticalventurepartners.com