Four years after its inception, InjectPower is already preparing to launch industrial production. Created in 2020 on the basis of twenty years of technological development at CEA-Leti, the startup develops powerful hair-thin rechargeable micro-batteries. In the future, they will power a new class of implanted medical devices capable of providing the continuous monitoring of patients with a risk of glaucoma, hydrocephalus, heart disease, etc.
A very favorable response from American medical implant companies
This technology was quick to spark the interest of major medical implant companies, including in the United States. Several development contracts with prototype tests are currently underway. Furthermore, it is protected by 40 patents, and has yet to deliver its full potential:
“our micro-batteries already have an energy density that is five times that of competition, and we are working on a factor of five in the long run,” said company CEO Philippe Andreucci.
This highly promising context has prompted InjectPower to start building a plant in Villard-Bonnot, 15 km from Grenoble. The startup has bought an 8,000 m2 plot, where a 3,500 m2 facility will be built starting in September 2024. It will include 1,500 m2 devoted to white rooms, technical facilities, and offices.
Powering millions of medical implants a year
Facilities (lithography, engraving, etc.) will be installed late 2025. Volume manufacturing will begin the following year and will employ some thirty people. .
“We will be producing several thousand wafers a year, enough to power millions of implanted medical devices,” said Philippe Andreucci. “In the long run, the site will reach 10,000 wafers a year and will employ 50 people.”
Designed for human implants, the micro-batteries will be medically certified. The Grenoble region, already rich in silicon fabs, will now have its first site devoted to health.
“It will use 200 mm equipment, at once available, competitive, and set in a very active ecosystem for maintenance and servicing,” added the CEO.
To fund the operation, estimated at €50M, the startup is planning on raising at least €15M in 2024. It will also apply for bank loans and is intending on signing new development contracts. It is entrusting construction to IDEC Hautes Technologies, a specialist in this type of project, and a subsidiary of the IDEC group, already an Injectpower shareholder via its investment fund.
“We are delighted with this announcement, which once again illustrates the industrial dimension of our deeptech start-ups. With our technology platforms, particularly in microelectronics, we have the mission of helping our partners to facilitate the industrialisation of our technologies. CEA-Leti's 'Lab to Fab' role is at the heart of our 4-year collaboration with InjectPower. This factory project is the culmination of that collaboration," concludes Jean-René Lequepeys, CTO of CEA-Leti.