Davis-based Elve Inc. is preparing to open a manufacturing operation in 7,000 square feet of space in University Research Park in Davis.
Elve makes high-efficiency lightweight millimeter-wave power amplifiers, primarily for supplying connectivity for space applications and high-bandwidth earth communications.
The company chose to manufacture in Davis because it started in the college town, and it has collaborations with the University of California Davis and access to university labs, said CEO Diana Gamzina.
Last week, Elve raised $15 million from investors. The company said the funding will be used to grow its customer base and to increase manufacturing capabilities.
The new Elve manufacturing operation takes up an entire building in the park, said Jim Gray, leasing broker with Nahz Anvary with Kidder Mathews, representing University Research Park.
“It is the first non-biology lab we have done in a long, long time,” Gray said. Much of the research done in and around UC Davis is related to life sciences, he said.
After starting up in June 2022, Elve has 26 employees currently, and expects to have 40 next year, Gamzina said. It will employ a broad spectrum of manufacturing workers along with engineers and scientists with doctorates, she said.
The millimeter wave communications technology that Elve is building has been around for decades, but most of the devices built were one-off units that cost millions of dollars apiece because they were built by scientists for space missions.
Elve has about 12 patents for its power amplifiers and processes manufacturing the devices in larger volumes, she said. What Elve brings to the table are processes that remove some of the need for extreme expertise in manufacturing.
“We have already made more devices than anyone has made,” Gamzina said.
Elve's amplifiers allow for enhanced connectivity with satellite networks and they can create long-distance ground-to-ground links.
Gamzina said most telecom companies are focused on providing communications connectivity to serve areas with high population densities, and as a result, there are many areas where there is no high-quality connectivity because the underlying infrastructure is so expensive to install. Gamzina said one application for its terrestrial equipment is beaming connectivity to remote regions, where connectivity can be deployed locally in a hub and spoke model.
Gamzina previously worked at UC Davis, where she earned her bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering. She also currently works as a staff scientist at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park.
The investors in Elve last week included TomEnterprise Private AB, a Sweden-based family office private investment vehicle; San Francisco-based boutique private equity investment firm Green Sands Equity; Palo Alto private equity and venture capital firm Yu Galaxy, San Francisco-based investment firm Cambium Capital; and Lockheed Martin Ventures, the investment arm of Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT).
“We invested in Elve because their product is a step change from the current state of the art, and has the potential to radically enhance speed and accessibility of connectivity,” said Thomas von Koch, one of the founders of private equity firm EQT AB and owner of TomEnterprise Private AB, in a news release.
University Research Park includes 17 buildings on 33 acres in Davis just south of Interstate 80. It is owned by Fulcrum Property of Sacramento.
