M2E Power Announces New Energy Generation Technology; Raises $8 Million In Series A Funding
M2E Power, Inc., provider of solutions for mobile and large-scale power generation, announced that it has raised $8 Million in its Series A funding. OVP Venture Partners led the round, with additional participation from @Ventures, Highway 12 Ventures and existing investors. The company will use the funds to speed commercialization of its patent-pending M2E™ (Motion to Energy) technology, which the company states will fundamentally transform the way military and consumer mobile devices are powered. M2E can also be used in larger scale generator applications such as wind power and ocean wave power.
Currently the company is focused on meeting the mobile power needs of the military. The M2E mobile power solution consists of a micro-generator combined with traditional battery storage to create a system that captures the kinetic energy of normal everyday motion – human or vehicle – to generate electricity sufficient to power mobile devices. With a normal amount of motion, many of these products will either not need to be plugged in for recharging or will have extended run time before recharging. M2E claims that it will dramatically lower the 10-30 pound burden that soldiers often carry to power the 500+ mobile battery-powered military devices currently in use, and that it will help meet the twin consumer demands for clean power and greater device mobility.
"Our first goal is to address the mobile power crisis our military is facing. M2E is a solution that provides on-demand power so men and women in uniform can reduce the number of batteries they have to carry with them," commented David Rowe, President of M2E Power. "Along with addressing the mobile power need, M2E is more environmentally friendly than traditional batteries."
The M2E solution originated with Department of Energy-funded research at the Idaho National Labs (INL). Inventor Eric Yarger and his team at the INL sought to ease the military’s battery dependence for mobile power, and offer soldiers a way to generate power as they move around. It leverages the well-proven Faraday Principle (energy produced via motion of a magnet through a wire coil), but with changes in the magnetic architecture that has broad applicability to many sizes of motor generators. M2E provides energy for use in devices ranging from cell phones and digital audio players to PDAs and digital cameras.
