Transphorm Announces New 70 million Investment Led by KKR

Transphorm Inc, an early stage semiconductor company focused on redefining power conversion, announced a $70 million investment round led by global investment firm KKR. KKR’s investment follows initial rounds of funding from funds affiliated with Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Foundation Capital, Google Ventures, Soros Quantum Strategic Partners, INCJ, Fujitsu. Transphorm will use this funding to support its growth, product innovation and expansion. 

Dr. Umesh Mishra, Chairman of Transphorm Inc, stated: “Transphorm was launched to address the urgent and important problem of losses in power conversion, a process that converts electricity from the form it is delivered to the form that is ultimately used. We are delighted KKR has chosen to invest in Transphorm. By merging the technological leadership of Transphorm with the semiconductor business expertise of KKR, we are taking a major step forward in solving the global problem of energy wasted in power conversion.”

Transphorm believes that there is a very large market for its products as its ultra-efficient power devices and modules can eliminate more than 40% of all electric conversion losses by using Gallium Nitride (“GaN”), a new semiconductor material that switches at far higher speeds than traditional components. GaN-based technology, known for its connection to the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics, creates a brighter, more energy efficient light that today is the basis of the multi-billion dollar LED-based lighting industry. Similarly, when applied to power conversion, GaN components enable significantly more efficient, compact, and cost-effective products.

About Transphorm

Transphorm is a global semiconductor company, leading the GaN Revolution with the highest performance, highest reliability GaN devices for high voltage power conversion applications. To ensure this, Transphorm deploys its unique vertically-integrated business approach that leverages the industry’s most experienced GaN engineering team at every development stage: design, fabrication, device and application support. This approach, backed by one of the industry’s largest IP portfolios with over 1000 patents, has yielded the industry’s only JEDEC- and AEC-Q101-qualified GaN FETs. Transphorm’s innovations are moving power electronics beyond the limitations of silicon to achieve over 99% efficiency, 40% more power density and 20% lower system cost—and here’s how we do it.