IRVINE, Calif. — October 3, 2011
The Orange County Register, September 28th, 2011 · posted by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
Enevate Corp., rechargeable battery developer, is moving to 22,000-square-foot space in the University Research Park adjacent to UC Irvine and owned by the Irvine Co.
Currently the company is in 7,000 square feet in the Irvine Spectrum, almost 10 miles away. The 30-employee company expects to hire 20 more people by the end of 2012. Enevate is developing high-energy, high-capacity batteries for power guzzling 3G and 4G smartphones and computer tablets.
It started as Carbon Micro Battery Corp. in 2005 on UC Irvine research by co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Benjamin Park. The startup received $5.3 million in venture capital from Mission Ventures and Draker Fisher Jurvetson. The company changed its name to Enevate in 2010.
President and CEO Brian Wong, said the larger facility was chosen because of its proximity to John Wayne and Los Angeles International airports and access to a skilled workforce.“Enevate intends to revolutionize 3G and 4G smartphones and tablets by achieving significantly longer battery (life and thinner form)…Wong said.Batteries are one of the largest pieces of a cell phone, he said, yet users want them to be smaller and last longer as data use now exceeds voice applications on smartphones.The space Enevate will occupy has an existing chemical lab that it can customize for energy storage research and development. The building used to be occupied by UCI neuroscientist Gary Lynch.
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Contact:
Bill Blanning
media@enevate.com