QM Power snags $9M round for high-tech electric motor

Kansas City-based QM Power recently raised significant capital to accelerate development of its electric motor that the company says will transform its industry.  

The tech firm raised $9.06 million from undisclosed investors to boost development of the “Q-Sync Smart Synchronous Motor.”

Piper

QM Power says the motor is as much as 80 percent more efficient than Nikola Tesla’s induction electric motors, which are still are widely used in industrial applications. The motor is also about 50 percent more efficient than Electronically Commutated Motors (ECM) — but cost about the same.

The U.S. Department of Energy named Q-Sync a “High-Impact Technology Catalyst,” which aims to highlight cost-effective, energy-saving and underutilized commercial building technologies.

PJ Piper, CEO of QM Power, said the Q-Sync motors can save commerical buildings significantly on their energy bills.

“Electric motors are everywhere in commercial buildings and can consume up to seventy percent of all the energy used,” Piper said in a release. “The market is embracing the Q-Sync Smart Synchronous Motor as one of the most significant innovations to motor technology in more than 50 years, due to its high energy savings and ROI. We are providing businesses, utilities, and OEMs with access to the most efficient commercial refrigeration motor in history — a seventy-five percent efficient motor — for the same cost as an ECM.”

Founded in 2006, QM Power develops magnetic circuits and electronic controllers for electric motors, generators and actuators. The firm uses permanent magnets with control circuits to reduce costs and improve the performance of electro-mechanical devices, such as heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration systems, electric vehicles and robotics applications.

The company now has 28 staff members and plans to hire an additional 12 employees before the end of the year. QM Power works with such organizations as the U.S. Army, the U.S. Department of Energy, NASA and Boeing. The company’s Kansas City office features research and development laboratories, a machine shop and other facilities for prototyping and software development.

The privately-held firm has already raised more than $30 million from venture capital firms and is mulling an initial public offering. Piper is a co-founder of Aspen Aerogels, a Massachusetts-based insulation manufacturer that went public in 2014. The company recently moved from Lee’s Summit to Kansas City to accommodate its growth, tripling the square footage of its previous office space.