Amber Solutions was founded in May 2016 to develop “technologies for digital control of electricity.” The company’s mission is to change the electrical landscape for buildings and appliances worldwide, upgrading power management from electro-mechanical to a safer, more reliable solid-state architecture with embedded intelligence.

Amber raised $5.7 in Series A financing and in August 2020, Amber completed a $5.5 million Series B round. The company plans to raise another $10-$12M for productization, to develop silicon and to further develop some of the market silos on its roadmap.

Amber eliminates today’s standard, yet bulky and unreliable, 1950’s era electro-mechanical structures (electrolytics, transformers, magnetics, relays, etc.) replacing them with a smaller and more reliable discreet solid-state architecture, with a clear path to siliconization.

Amber’s core patented innovations enable the digital control of electricity in a solid-state architecture. These breakthroughs enable advanced intelligence to be embedded within a programmable solid-state power system with a clear path to an even-smaller silicon chip version. Amber’s breakthroughs can power disruptive size-reduction, reliability enhancement, manufacturing efficiencies and major expansion in features and value for electrically powered products. The company has 8+ patents secured, with 40 filed to cover hardware and software innovations, and has received UL component-level certification for one of their core breakthroughs.

Amber-powered products have native intelligence to manage power dynamically, independent of input or output requirements. For example, Amber can operate with input power from 60V to 260V, dynamically transforming it to the required output voltage. A single SKU device will work everywhere. Amber’s solid-state solutions are an order of magnitude safer than current solutions and can disconnect live power up to 3000X faster than a physical circuit breaker can trip. Individual Amber endpoints can be controlled, updated and monitored in real-time through Amber’s cloud service.

Amber’s AC Power Switch Platform is scalable with capabilities up to 4,000W, which can be configured for devices such as circuit breakers, wall switches, protection devices, lighting control, outlets, motors and more. This solid-state technology eliminates the need for relays and TRIACs in conventional power control.

Its AC direct DC power controller eliminates electrolytics, magnetics and transformers with a completely solid-state architecture. Currently the technology is in a discrete implementation but has a complete path to silicon. Its AC Direct LED Lighting Architecture eliminates the traditional “large brick” driver.

The company’s solid-state ground fault sensing method creates a new higher dynamic range sensing and can be combined with the AC switching technology for 3000x faster switching. Through digital current monitoring and digital-based leakage current detection Amber is able to more accurately recognize a real trip and drastically reduce nuisance tripping.

Several companies are attempting to offer solid-state circuit breakers, including Atom Power and Blixt. Amber argues that its technology is superior and far more cost effective. The company makes lots of claims but has not released any product details or specifications. Amber does not use any exotic technology like GaN or SiC – the company said that today its solution is based on inexpensive MOSFETs.

Amber has completed and/or is building solid-state-based, full functional demo models or pre-production product for a range of categories including multi-function capacitive touch smart dimmer switches, smart outlets, GFCIs and smart, programmable retrofit circuit breakers.

The company recently secured three new memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with global manufacturers of electrical products, smart automation systems and silicon chips. These new MOUs now total six agreements signed during the COVID-19 lockdown and nine overall for the company. Of the 9, one of has progressed to a binding agreement with a revenue commitment. The first product based on Amber’s technology is expected to ship in 2H’21.

Thar Casey, Founder, President and CEO (previously President of IDEX America)

Dave Tostenson, VP of Product Development (previously president of DT Engineering Associates)

Rob Halligan, Chief Marketing Officer

Chris Casey, VP of Operations and Business Development