startupi

Brazilian startup SiliconReef is headquartered in Recife, the capital of the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, and is now the winner of the business plan competition known as Challenge Brazil 2009 (sponsored by FGV/Intel Capital/Derraik Law Offices).

SiliconReef is prepared to produce and sell chips (integrated circuits) to improve the efficiency of equipment drawing on renewable sources of energy (green, or sustainable technology). The product, EH01, promises to improve efficiency in the energy generation and storage of wireless networks by up to 70%.

It also promises to create a sensation in the international market; the prize for winning Challenge Brazil 2009 is participation in the Intel Berkely Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge (Ibtec). This will take place November 17-19, 2009 in California. SiliconReef will get a lot of publicity, feedback, contacts (including investors) and maybe the prize of US$ 25,000.

In addition, the company also won other prizes: R$ 30,000 in legal advice from the Derraik Law Offices, a distance learning course in new business management from FGV-Online, and R$ 10,000 in cash.

What came first, the idea of working with wireless, with chips or with energy efficiency?

The idea has always been to do projects with chips! At first, we thought about working with wireless (communication and processing) specifically focused on wireless sensor networks. However, we saw many companies already making advances in research and projects for solving problems of communication and processing in these networks, and decided not to go there.

Continuing our studies we arrived at energy harvesting, which solves the problem of energy self-sufficiency in wireless sensor networks, besides having potential in other areas like mobile phones and netbooks.

How long have you been working on this endeavor?

The directors (Marília Lima, CEO; myself, head of Business; and Vítor Schwambach, head of technology) have been working together since 2003; the rest of the team was added beginning in 2007, working on projects in the Center for Studies in Advanced Systems (CESAR) in Recife. As a business, we were formed in 2008.

What’s your background?

The team is made up of professors and specialists in microelectronics, with more than six years of experience in projects involving integrated circuits, both in academia and in industry. There are nine of us in all, four of us dedicated just to the EH01 project.

When did you resolve to create a startup?

Tough question… :)  I would say that since we graduated, when we looked at the market and didn’t see any Brazilian companies working in this area (semiconductors). Not to say there weren’t any at all, there was Freescale, in Campinas, for instance. We wanted to apply what we were learning at the university to the market, but for lack of opportunity we created our own business.

In 2005, the Federal Government announced its CI-Brazil program, which in general, seeks to reinsert Brazil in the value chain of this industry as a technology provider, instead of an importer. One of the objectives of the program is to promote initiatives that offer easier paths for the emergence of national IC Design Houses (centers for the design of integrated circuits).

CESAR was chosen as one of the participants and received financing for paying personnel and purchasing development tools for the CI project. In addition the team that now is part of SiliconReef began to take shape.

Have you been focused exclusively on this project?

Until the business was created we were working on two projects, one is already completed and the other is in an advanced phase of development. We are always thinking about how to create sustainable business for the long term, and the idea of SiliconReef came out of that. While we developed our other projects for third parties, we always studied the market and business opportunities for an innovative product idea.

From this work we identified the opportunity (energy harvesting). We only needed to better organize the idea and start to raise funds for product development. In the second half of 2008, the CNPq announced that because of the Innovation Act, private businesses could compete for public funds for technology development in microelectronics. This was the “spark” we had needed to create the company.

Do you have prototypes of the Energy Harvesting IC (EH01)?

There is a functional model of the chip built using professional tools appropriate for this type of work. From this model, we can make comparisons and draw conclusions. We are refining the model and the first prototype of the chip will be ready in 2010. The first version of the product will be ready in December 2010.

What are the characteristics of EH01?

Our goal is to identify an opportunity for improving existing solutions and we have a product that brings together several unique features, including the capacity to work with several energy sources, the ability to capture simultaneously from two sources, and that implements technologies to improve gain and generation in the process of energy harvesting - all in one chip. The other chips on the market that are most similar to EH01 are the Cymbet CBC3150, the ALD EH300, the IPS MEC101 and the Techtium TEC103.

What is the performance of the chip on the market?

It depends on the potential for growth in the market, the applications for this type of technology and the development capacity of the team. Because it is a technology that is a hot topic, it’s hard to talk to our competitors - any company that works in this sector could decide to enter this niche.

Have you received any kind of help or support?

The company has an approved grant through CNPq for R&D in the next two years. For EH01, specifically, we have resources from PAPPE-FACEPE and PRIME.

What was it like to participate in Challenge Brazil 2009?

The Challenge made us think more critically about the project, looking at the numbers and assessing whether the business was financially sustainable or not. Until then, the financial part and the strategies for marketing the product had not been worked on much. The Challenge forced us to look at this and think about profitability. I would say that the exercise of writing the business plan with an eye to investment (or writing it for a potential investor) was the biggest reward.

We would not have arrived at this level of maturity that we brought to the plan if we had not participatedin the Challenge. Besides seeking answers for ourselves, the feedback we got from the panelists and people we spoke to at the event was hugely educational for our business.

And now what will happen? What’s your prediction for the project?

We will work hard this month for the competition in the USA. In parallel we will continue product development, testing and improvements to meet our development schedule.

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