WiTricity, a Watertown, MA-based EV wireless charging company, raised an additional $18m in funding.
The round added to its previously announced $34m funding led by Stage 1 Ventures with participation from Air Waves Wireless Electricity and a strategic investment by Mitsubishi Corporation through its U.S. subsidiary, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas).
The extension included investments from Tony Fadell’s Future Shape and other private investors.
WiTricity is a wireless charging company providing patented magnetic resonance technology which enables a hands-free and efficient charging experience for EV drivers. Many top automakers and their Tier 1 suppliers have already licensed WiTricity’s technology, including Toyota, Mahle, TDK, IHI, Shindengen, Daihen, Aptiv, Anjie Wireless, Yura, VIE, Green Power, and Lumen Freedom.
FinSMEs
01/03/2021
The company has also formed a new board of advisors including:
- Grant Covic, Professor of Engineering at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, where there are more than 40 Ph.D. and postdoctoral researchers on campus working on wireless charging. Covic leads industrial and EV wireless power research efforts, is a pioneer in inductive power transfer, and actively collaborates in WiTricity research.
- Tony Fadell, Principal at Future Shape, a global investment and advisory firm. Fadell is the founder and former CEO of Nest (acquired by Google), and former SVP of Apple’s iPod Division, where he led the development of the first 18 generations of the iPod and first three generations of the iPhone.
- Bill Merritt, President and CEO of InterDigital, the mobile and video technology research and development company. Merritt is an expert in intellectual property and leads one of the most successful technology licensing businesses of all time.
- Marin Soljačić, Professor of Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), MacArthur Fellow and WiTricity founder. Soljačić and his team developed the foundational technology for wireless power transfer over distance via strongly-coupled magnetic resonators and founded WiTricity in 2007.
- Jack Watanabe, President of Climeon Japan, a clean energy company. Watanabe is a 36-year veteran of Mitsubishi Corporation, having last served as the chief strategist and SVP of Mitsubishi Energy Group.
FinSMEs
01/03/2021