CAMARILLO, Calif., May 28, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ZPower today announced it has raised $10 million in additional funding from existing investors, bringing the company's total to $110 million from investors. The funds will be used to accelerate the adoption of ZPower silver-zinc rechargeable batteries, used by leading hearing aid manufacturers. The batteries were recently launched by Starkey Hearing Technologies for use in the VFusionTM Rechargeable Battery System.
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"We're excited to receive this important infusion of growth capital from our investment partners," said Dr. Ross Dueber, President and CEO of ZPower. "We and our customers have a vision of changing the audiology market's paradigm from disposable batteries to rechargeable batteries, and are committed to making it a reality."
"ZPower's technology has given me a new lease on life," said Mr. Howard Schultz, lead investor and hearing aid wearer. "When I place my hearing aids in the charger each night and put them on in the morning I'm confident the batteries will last all day. No longer do I have to worry about carrying spare batteries and having to replace them at inopportune times. With ZPower batteries I can now charge my hearing aids just like my mobile phone."
Batteries for Advanced Hearing Aids
"The new Made for iPhone® hearing instruments and other advanced wireless hearing aids demand more power than ever before," stated Troy Renken, ZPower's Vice President of Product Planning and Electronics. "Zinc-air disposable batteries last as little as two days in these new hearing aids, requiring frequent battery purchases and replacements." ZPower silver-zinc batteries offer numerous advantages over zinc-air disposable batteries in the areas of performance, user convenience and environment. ZPower batteries are also superior to traditional nickel metal-hydride rechargeable batteries because they deliver up to three times the energy – and over 18 hours of continuous use – in both 312 and 13 battery sizes. "Our higher energy content, however, makes them incompatible with many current hearing aids so we are working closely with manufacturers to quickly enable their adoption of our game changing technology."
Design Services
In addition to manufacturing silver-zinc rechargeable batteries, ZPower also offers design support services in the areas of power management and charger design for hearing instrument manufacturers. "Our design support helps our manufacturer partners quickly adapt their existing hearing aid products and electronics to ZPower batteries," said Renken. The company specializes in voltage regulation ICs, power management ICs, charger electronics and control algorithms for hearing aids.
Beyond Audiology
ZPower is also poised to serve other markets beyond audiology. Longer lasting microbatteries are crucial for the new wave of portable electronics and wearable computers. "Our silver-zinc technology has a significant energy density advantage over lithium-ion microbatteries," added Dueber.
Designed and manufactured in California, USA, ZPower batteries are the first new rechargeable battery technology for portable electronics to be launched since lithium-ion was introduced in the 1990s. The company is financed entirely by private investors and has no government-assisted funding.
About ZPower, LLC
ZPower is a leader in the development of rechargeable, silver-zinc batteries for microbattery applications whose headquarters and manufacturing facility is in Camarillo, Calif. The company provides a total solution for hearing instrument manufacturers which includes advanced silver-zinc battery technology and charger design support. The ZPower solution simplifies new product development and speeds time-to-market. For end users, ZPower batteries deliver unmatched performance, improved user experience and are better for the environment. For more information, visit www.zpowerbattery.com.
