$NPWZ Due Diligence
Neah Power Systems Inc. - NPWZ
About NPWZ
NPWZ Neah Power was founded in 1999, but CTO/founder Leroy Ohlsen had been thinking about alternative energy for years.
Inspiredby a Discovery Channel science program on fuel cells and theirpotential, Leroy began to read and absorb the history and the science offuel cells. Upon completing his chemistry degree from the University ofWashington, he decided, along with fellow founder Michael Fabian, tostart a company to pursue his dream of a “superior, longer-lastingenergy source.”
NPWZ Neah Powerhas grown to include a world-class engineering and scientific team fromaround the world. Prototype development continues and the companyexpects to make its energy products commercially available in 2012.
NPWZ Neah Power Systemsis a publicly-held company. Original venture investors include FrazierTechnology Ventures, Alta Partners, Intel Capital, Castile Ventures andWestAM.
Neah Power Systems Inc.(NPWZ)is developing long-lasting, efficient and safe power solutions forportable electronic devices, including notebook PCs, military radios andother power-hungry computer, entertainment, and communicationsproducts.
NPWZ Neah Power Systemsuses a patented, silicon-based design for its micro fuel cells thatenable higher power densities to enable lighter-weight, smallerform-factors and lower costs.
This silicon-based architecturelets Neah Power use a componentized design so that a fuel cell can betailored to meet each customer's needs, varying the components toachieve required power, size, and operating duration.
This exceptional flexibility and
NPWZ Neah's ability to leverage the silicon industry's manufacturing technology set Neah Power apart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhmLJUWA ... r_embedded
NPWZ MARKETS
Military
Itis difficult to fathom a more demanding power user than the military.Modern, effective soldiers have come to rely on increasinglysophisticated computational and communications gear. In fact, it’s beensaid that there are two limiting factors determining the length ofmission: water and batteries.
The amount of water and batteries asoldier can physically carry often defines the duration of a missionand the likelihood of success.
These military devices require adependable, lightweight, compact power source to extend operationalruntimes. On top of this, the electronic equipment and power sourcesneed to be able to perform reliably under harsh operating conditions inthe field.
NPWZ Neah Power’spatented silicon-based fuel cell is expected to address thesefundamental issues and provide a superior power source for all sorts ofmilitary applications. The Neah Power fuel cell is expected to providetwo to three times the energy capacity versus the standard BA-5590battery, while remaining in the same compact form.
Instant “Recharge” for Continuous Computing
Importantly,soldiers can benefit from the ability to continuously run theirelectronic equipment without the need to wait for recharging. Fuel cellscan produce power as long as a fuel source is provided. When one fuelcartridge is exhausted, a soldier could simply pop it out and insertanother one to continue the power supply. Instead of carrying multiplebatteries, soldiers would only need to carry only one fuel cell andseveral lightweight fuel cartridges for continuous power capability (seebelow).
The BA-5590 is the U.S. Military’s most widely usedportable power source, supporting hundreds of communication andcomputational applications in the field. Though proven, these batteriesare big and bulky, and weigh soldiers down. Instead of carrying multiplebatteries for extended missions, dramatic weight and volume reductionsare possible by carrying one fuel cell and multiple cartridges (seebelow). Greater reductions are possible with longer missions.
Fully Sealed System
NeahPower’s design can be configured as an open air system (for greaterruntime capacity) or as a fully-sealed system (for predictable operationunder a wide variety of field conditions).
Both configurations capture the reaction by-products inside the fuel cartridge.
Theopen-air system requires exposure to air for its oxygen source, whilethe fully-sealed system contains a liquid oxidant right along withmethanol fuel in the cartridge.
Mobile Life
Businesstravelers and mobile professionals have benefited greatly from theportability and freedom enabled by ever-improving notebook PCs.Productivity has soared during the first phase of mobile computing,enabling users to complete self-contained computing tasks, such asspreadsheets, document creation, and batch email. These tasks wereprimarily conducted in a disconnected or intermittingly-connected state.
Thecurrent phase of mobile computing might be described as the “connected”state. Connection to private networks and the public Internet hasbecome more pervasive in recent years, thanks to “Wi-Fi” hotspots thatseamlessly link to robust WAN networks. In addition to self-containedcomputing tasks, business travelers and mobile professionals areincreasingly conducting network-centric computing, such as ERP orderentry and status, inventory checks, pricing checks, as well as real-timeemail and connection to the Web and Web services like Google.
Corridor Warriors
Importantly,persistent computing capability will not be limited to travel or timeout of the office, but within the office as well. More and morecompanies are outfitting their corporate campuses and work environmentswith secure Wi-Fi networks enabling knowledge workers to carry their PCswith them throughout the workday. Users will no longer be tethered totheir desks, freeing them to access information and communicate wheneverand wherever they are located.
Persistent Computing Requires Extended Power
Wirelessnetworking technologies like Wi-Fi have triggered a significant demandfor power. We believe that users demand a convenient and longer-lastingpower source to keep up with their work pace.
Today’s dominanttechnology for laptop PCs—lithium-ion batteries—has not been ableprovide the energy for all-day computing capability. Equally important,many experts believe that lithium-ion technology is mature and is notexpected to provide significant performance improvements in the years tocome.
This challenge is widely recognized, with companies likeIntel spearheading an Extended Life Working Group to address the issues.
First Responders
Firstresponders need reliable and long-lasting communications, sensors, andother portable electronics devices. Police, fire, and other firstresponder personnel often have to operate in environments where power isunavailable for long period of time. Their reliance on communicationsand related devices is absolute and often a matter of life or death.
Thesedevices require a dependable, lightweight, compact power source toextend operational runtimes. In addition, the electronic equipment andpower sources need to be able to perform reliably under harsh operatingconditions in the field.
NPWZ Neah Power’s patentedsilicon-based fuel cell is expected to address these fundamental issuesand provide a superior power source for all sorts of first responderapplications.
Instant “Recharge” for Continuous Computing
Importantly,first responders can benefit from the ability to continuously run theirelectronic equipment without the need to wait for recharging. Fuelcells can produce power as long as a fuel source is provided.
Whenone fuel cartridge is exhausted, a first responder could simply pop itout and insert another one to continue the power supply. Instead ofcarrying multiple batteries or finding a way to recharge theirbatteries, first responders would only need to carry only one fuel celland several lightweight fuel cartridges for continuous power capability.
Logistics
Information Drives Speed, Value, and Service
Logisticsis an information-intensive industry and function. Technology is usedto increase inventory turns and deliver goods where and when they areneeded. Logistics workers—including warehouse personnel, drivers, rentalcar employees, even ski lift operators—have been able to increaseproductivity and speed service with mobile tracking devices connected toinformation networks.
Power That Lasts the Entire Shift
Alltoo often, however, the batteries in these mobile tracking devices runout before a shift is completed. Elaborate “recharging stations” areoften set up to ensure that a fresh supply of batteries is readilyavailable. Besides the inconvenience, these solutions consume time,space, and capital.
Users are demanding power solutions that canwork as hard as they do — up to 12-hour shifts in many cases. This isnot possible with current rechargeable battery technology, such aslithium-ion or nickel-metal hydride. Further, users are always lookingfor smaller and lighter form-factors for their mobile products to easeergonomic demands.
Silicon-Based Design Enables Long Life and Small Sizes
Neah Power’spatented design is expected to enable higher efficiencies and powerdensities, which translates into extended runtimes and smaller, lighterpackages compared to a traditional PEM-based fuel cells.
Instant “Recharge” for Continuous Operation
Importantly,logistics workers can benefit from the ability to continuously runtheir mobile electronic equipment without the need to wait forrecharging. Fuel cells can produce power as long as a fuel source isprovided.
When one fuel cartridge is exhausted, a worker couldsimply pop it out and insert another one to continue the power supply.Finally Neah Power’s fuel cell captures the water vapor reactionby-product inside the fuel cartridge itself.
No worries aboutcondensation and the potential adverse effects on sophisticatedelectronic gear. These cartridges are expected to be disposable orrecyclable for convenience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NBazg3m ... r_embedded
Investors
Neah Power Systems, Inc. is a publicly-held technology development company. Original venture investors include:
Frazier Technology Ventures (FTV)is among the Frazier family of venture funds, which is the largestfamily of venture capital funds based in the Pacific Northwest with over$800 million under management. FTV was founded in late 2000 with aninvestment focus on seed and early stage technology investments in thePacific Northwest. The FTV partners have a combined 70 years ofoperating experience with industry leaders such as Microsoft, Visio,AT&T, Real Networks and Immunex. Leveraging their operational,technical and domain skills, FTV’s mission is to partner withentrepreneurs to build innovative and sustainable businesses.
Alta Partnersis a Bay Area venture capital firm with just under $1 billion undermanagement. Alta invests in companies in the information technology andlife sciences sector and provides financing, relationships and guidanceto help build highly successful organizations. Alta Partners was foundedin 1996 as a successor to Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co. (BEDCO), whichinvested more than $700 million in over 200 companies in the U.S. andoverseas. Alta Partners builds on the BEDCO legacy combining capital andexperience with exceptional entrepreneurial talent to achieve investingsuccess.
Intel Capital,Intel’s strategic investment program, is one of the largest worldwidecorporate venture programs investing in the technology segment. With anoverall strategy to stimulate advances in computing and communications,the Intel Capital team seeks out and invests in promising companiesworldwide working together to establish new and innovative technologies,develop industry standard solutions, drive Internet growth and advancethe computing platform.
Castile Venturesis an early-stage venture capital firm providing financial backing andstrategy guidance to help exceptional entrepreneurs build successfulbusinesses founded on fundamental innovations in technology.Distinguished by the deep business and technology experience of itspartners, Castile often leads or co-leads investment syndicated andplays an active role in guiding and advising its portfolio companies.
WestAmis the global investment management arm of WestLB AG, Germany's fourthlargest bank by assets. WestAM has investment management operations inthe US, Europe, Japan and Australia. As of March 31, 2004, WestAMmanaged a total of $51 billion for more than 500 institutional clientsaround the world. The Private Equity Group of WestAM is based in Chicagowith offices in New York and Los Angeles.
The Group managesnearly $3 billion in institutional commitments to private equity throughdiscretionally managed portfolios of venture and buyouts partnership,and direct investment in underlying portfolio companies.
NPWZ Neah Power Systems Investor Presentation
https://www.slideshare.net/npwzpr/neah-p ... esentation
Management
Dr. Chris D'Couto
President
Chief Executive Officer
Chris heads all of Neah's operations, including engineering, marketing, and business development.
Hebrings more than a decade in thin films processing and semiconductortechnology expertise, proven track record in sales and marketing, andproduct introduction experience including serving as senior director ofmarketing at FormFactor Inc., where he headed the launch of full waferprobe cards for NAND flash and DRAM.
Before FormFactor, Chris hada nine-year tenure at Novellus Systems, Inc., with positions ofincreasing responsibility ranging from productmanagement to technologydevelopment and sales. Some of his roles at Novellus Systems include thelaunch of some of the PVD products and an ALD system for tungstendeposition, Sales Account Management and core technology development.Prior to that, Chris had worked at Varian Associates and as a consultantto Intel Corporation.
He has a B.Tech. (Honors) in chemicalengineering from the Coimbatore Institute of Technology in India, Ph.D.in chemical engineering from Clarkson University, NY., and an MBA fromthe Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Stephen Wilson
Chief Financial Officer
CPA, CMA
Mr.Wilson has 25+ years of experience in finance and accounting, mostrecently as CFO. Past employers include Coopers & Lybrand, PugetSound Power and Light, Honeywell, Mutual Materials Company, StrategicFinance & Accounting Services and Impart Media Group, Inc.
Derek Reiman
Director of
Manufacturing
Mr.Reiman joined Neah Power Systems in 2001 upon completing his B.S. inMetallurgical Engineering, with a focus on semiconductor processing,from the University of Washington. He started initially as a ResearchEngineer on porous silicon process development, electrode currentcollection and catalysis.
During his tenure at Neah, Mr. Reimanhas had roles of increasing responsibility. In his current role asDirector of Manufacturing, Mr. Reiman is responsible for the siliconprocessing, production, cell and stack testing and quality control.
Aspart of Neah's outsourced manufacturing model, Mr. Reiman is workingwith the manufacturing partners to implement a reliable supply chain,manage costs, ensure high quality and on time delivery.
Awards
Popsci logo
2010 Best of What's NewTM
Office of Naval Research: Award: July 2007 & September 2008
MIT
Leroy Ohlsen: Top 100 Young Innovators: September 2004
Seattle Alliance of Angels: Startup of the Year: May 2004
Venture All-Stars: Top 25 Company: June 2005
Red Herring Top: 100 Innovators: December 2004
NIST/ATP: $2M Award: September 2003
RECENT HEADLINES
NPWZ LETTER TO SHAREHOLDERS
AUGUST 25, 2011
Quote:
Iam pleased to write this letter to provide an update on Neah Power andshare with you the many positive developments that have unfolded in2011.
We believe that many of these developments can serve as thefoundation for the Company's continued momentum into the Second Half of2011 and we are proud of the these achievements.
Our objectivefor the Second Half of 2011 is to continue the effort toward licensingof our patented, silicon-based PowerChip MCMTM technology through theestablishment of customer engagements. During the course of the year, weare seeing the benefits of previous execution around completing highvolume capable prototype systems, customer engagements for products, aswell as licensing revenue streams. We continue be excited about ouropportunity to merge with Exigent Security Products, the radiationsensor company. Some other very eventful items that happened of 2011,that we believe will continue to evolve to the Company’s benefit are
Ateam from Neah, including myself, visited India in May to furtherdevelop and grow potential business opportunities. Over the course ofthe summer we continued to nurture and develop those relationships with afollow-uo visit to India in August where we demonstrated theapplications of our technology.
As a recognized expert in fuelcell technology, I was invited to Japan for the Renewable Energy Expo2011 to present Neah’s disruptive and patented technology to leadingadopters of fuel cell technologies.
In August, we again visited Japan where we demonstrated our technology to parties interested in the technology.
Wecontinue to have interest from previously announced customers, and weare in the process of renewing our various letters of intent.
Wecontinue to engender interest and early engagement from the leading edgefuel cell adopters in the defense, consumer, and transportationmarkets.
The leading US defense supplier has renewed their letterof interest, and we are progressing well in our discussions about thespecific product applications.
The most recent award, the 2010Best of What’s NewTM Popular Science, which is one of its mostprestigious awards in technology, continues to generate interest amongvarious potential customers.
The management has been continuouslycommitted to working through the difficult economic times that we areexperiencing as a nation, as well as a Company. To better align themanagement interest with that of the shareholder, a director involvedwith sales efforts for the Company is foregoing any cash compensation,and the officers of the Company are taking a 33% reduction in salary. Inreturn, officers and one director and will be compensated in cash andequity on completion of bookings, and cash receipts, by the Company overthe course of the next three years.
We are working diligently toensure that calendar 2011 will be a year that marks the sustainedlaunch of the Company in the market and will serve as the foundation ofour future growth. The Company has over $38M invested from shareholdersand previous investors like Intel Capital, Novellus Systems and othertop tier venture capitalists. We believe we are now seeing the fruit ofthat effort, as evidenced by the various patents issued to the Company,awards and other recognition and customer interest for our products.
Wehave an exceptional team of people committed to bringing the PowerChipMCMTM product to market. As the CEO, I have experience launchingsuccessful products for a number of Fortune 500 Companies, and took aleadership role at Neah to complete the development of the technology,develop the manufacturing strategy, and deploy the product withinnovators and market leaders. We have a committed team and a Board ofDirectors that diligently oversees the operations and execution of theCompany, while also actively contributing to develop sales channels forNeah.
Neah’s superior performance with our PowerChip MCMTMtechnology, as compared to the incumbent PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane)technology includes longer lifetime, approximately 2½ times the powerdensity (power per unit area), capital efficient manufacturing usingexisting computer chip manufacturing capacity, and a unique anaerobic(non-air) functionality. This unique anaerobic capability makes us anattractive solution for automobiles, trucks, two wheelers, forklifts,electric scooters, and defense applications.
As we move beyondthe first half of our fiscal year 2011, we are actively packaging ourtechnology and building a series of commercialized offerings in
· Licensing
· Product Development
· Prototype Development
· Engineering Support
Wecontinue to focus our effort on growing the Company, deploying thePowerChip MCMTMtechnology through licensing and product sales, andmaintaining our lean operation mode while we continue to advance NeahPower Systems.
Thank you for your continued support of Neah Power and the Company’s management team.
Chris D’Couto PhD, MBA
President and CEO
Company Contact:
Stephen Wilson
Neah Power Systems
https://info@neahpower.com
425-424-3324
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Neah Receives an Additional US Patent for Non Air-Breathing Fuel Cells
Marketwire (Tue, Oct 11)
Quote:
NEAH Power Systems, Inc., (OTCBB: NPWZ)announced it has been issued another patent from the U. S. Patent andTrademark Office. The patent, titled "Liquid-liquid fuel cell systemshaving flow-through anodes and flow-by cathodes" (USPTO #7,968,248),further solidifies Neah's presence and leadership in alternative energy.
With this patent issuance, Neah has a total of twelveissued patents in the U.S. This patent relates to the unique anaerobic(non air-breathing) capability of the Neah fuel cell. This patentfurther covers Neah's proprietary architecture whereby a liquid fuel anda liquid oxidant run the fuel cell independent of the environment ofoperation.
Neah Power CEO, Dr. Chris D'Couto, stated, "Thisadditional patent further solidifies our IP portfolio and demonstratesthe underlying validity of our proprietary technology. We believe thatour novel fuel cell technology enables us to offer differentiated andcompetitive products for a variety of possible applications that werepreviously considered unsuitable for fuel cells.
We believe thisis why companies like The Boeing Company, the large US defense supplierwe previously announced, and other parties are showing interest in ourproducts."
More information about this patent, as well as ourpatent portfolio, can be downloaded directly from the USPTO website,located at
https://patft.uspto.gov/
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Neah Discusses Recent Interest in Its Proprietary Fuel Cells
Marketwire (Thu, Oct 6)
Monday, October 3, 2011
Interview With The President And CEO; Neah Power Systems, Inc. (NPWZ)- Chris DCouto
https://www.twst.com/notes/articles/avj605.html
Wall Street Transcript (Mon, Oct 3)
Boeing Supports Neah Power Systems as a Fuel Cell Provider for Airplane and Ground Applications
Marketwire (Mon, Oct 3)
Quote:
BoeingCompany is exploring areas of collaboration to deploy our patented,award-winning PowerChip™ technology to various distributed power sourceson Boeing's current and future airplane and ground systems
finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=NPWZ.OB+Headlines
NPWZ Contact Info
Neah Power Systems, Inc.
22118 20th Avenue SE
Suite 142
Bothell, WA 98021
Website:
https://www.neahpower.com
Phone: 425-424-3324
Email:
info@neahpower.com
facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/NeahPower
twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/neahpowerinc
flikr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/neahpower