US smart metering company Ember raises additional $8m in venture funding

7 April 2009

US smart metering company Ember Corporation, has closed an additional $8m in funding from its primary venture capital investors and strategic partners. Polaris Venture Partners, GrandBanks Capital, RRE Ventures, Vulcan Capital, DFJ ePlanet Ventures, New Atlantic Ventures, WestLB Mellon Asset Management (formerly West AM) and strategic partners including Chevron Technology Ventures and Stata Venture Partners participated in the round. This new round combined with existing investments from STMicroelectronics, Hitachi Corporation and MIT bring the total capital Ember has raised to $89m.

Ember develops ZigBee wireless networking technology that enables companies involved in energy technologies to help buildings consume less energy.

‘ZigBee standards extend the developing smart grid out to the billions of devices, appliances and equipment where most energy efficiency goals will be achieved,’ said Ember chairman and Polaris partner Bob Metcalfe.

‘Smart meters now being equipped with ZigBee-standard Ember radio chips and protocol software are serving as energy management gateways between utilities and consumers. Ember revenues accelerated in 2008 and, with the increasing international emphasis on energy management, we are preparing Ember for continued rapid growth in 2009.’

The market for 802.15.4/ZigBee devices is expected to reach as high as 292 million units in 2012, up from about 7 million units in 2007, according to research firm, In-Stat.

As part of the recently enacted stimulus package signed by President Barack Obama, over $49bn was allocated to transform the nation’s energy system, and over $17bn of that will be aimed at electric grid infrastructure upgrades.

‘The strong backing of our investors in the midst of these unprecedented macroeconomic conditions is testimony to the Ember team and its leadership in the ZigBee market,’ said Robert LeFort, Ember’s CEO. ‘This additional funding enables Ember to march forward on its strong growth path as its technology gets deployed in many smart grid applications around the world.’

The company also announced the expansion of its sales channels with the addition of new distributors in Australia, New Zealand, India and Hong Kong.

Copyright © 2009 newnet

Tags: energy efficiency, smart grid, smart metering, venture capital

This story was published on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 3:10 pm and is filed under Asia, Australasia, North America, deals, energy efficiency. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply