The Slater Technology Fund today announced that it has committed $250,000 in funding to VoltServer, a Charlestown, R.I.-based company that has developed an innovative way to manage and deliver electrical power. VoltServer is the latest venture of successful entrepreneur Steve Eaves.
VoltServer’s technology is based on a radically new approach to how electrical energy is distributed, called Packet Energy Transfer (PET). PET transmits electricity in discrete packets that contain both energy and real-time data about the energy. The PET technique is safer than today’s electric transmission methods, because it has the ability to distinguish between a person touching the power conductors and the regular current being drawn by the load equipment, and to automatically discontinue power if a person or other conducting object comes in contact. Using the PET approach, much higher levels of power can be transferred safely to downstream equipment than by traditional approaches. In 2011, the company’s technology was awarded “Innovation of the Year” in the energy and the environment category by the Providence Business News.
VoltServer founder and CEO Steve Eaves is a successful Rhode Island entrepreneur who founded Modular Energy Devices, a large-format lithium ion battery company that has become the leading supplier of lithium ion batteries to the telecommunications industry in North America. The company was originally backed by Slater in a series of investments during 2003-2005 and was acquired by EnerSys Inc. (NYSE:ENS), the world’s largest industrial battery manufacturer, in 2011.
“Slater’s mission is to identify and sponsor the most dynamic entrepreneurs as they attack the most compelling problems of our times, and working with Steve Eaves to commercialize a radically different approach to a ubiquitous industrial challenge is a unique opportunity,” said Thorne Sparkman, managing director of the Slater Technology Fund. “We look forward to continuing our partnership.”
About Slater Technology Fund
The Slater Technology Fund is a state-backed economic development fund that operates in accord with best practices of venture capital investing, backing new ventures committed to basing and building businesses in Rhode Island. Slater focuses its resources on the support of entrepreneurs who have the vision, leadership and commitment to build substantial commercial enterprises. Slater typically invests at the inception stage in the development of a new venture, often based upon ideas and technologies originating in academic institutions and/or government research laboratories located within the region. In most cases, investments are premised upon the possibility of raising substantial follow-on financing, from venture capital investors or from strategic partners, with a view toward accelerating the generation of significant numbers of high-value, high-wage jobs over the intermediate to longer-term. For more information, visit slaterfund.com.
