Swiss Startup Minysa Raises €163K to Solve the Hardest Part of GaN Power Electronics

Published technical literature consistently documents these advantages. One industry comparison describes GaN transistors as “10 times faster and 10 times smaller” than silicon counterparts . Another source notes that GaN FETs have zero reverse-recovery charge, resulting in 4–5× lower switching losses than silicon .

The Three Barriers Minysa Addresses

Despite GaN’s clear advantages, widespread adoption has been blocked by three obstacles :

1. Design complexity — Driving a GaN transistor requires specialized gate-driver circuitry. It is not a drop-in replacement for silicon.
2. High system cost — The lack of integrated, application-ready solutions keeps system-level costs high.
3. Lack of plug-and-play modules — Engineers need pre-validated, easy-to-use building blocks.

Minysa’s approach is to deliver integrated GaN gate-driver ASICs and plug-and-play power modules (including system-in-package solutions) that handle the difficult driver integration and protection functions on-chip. As Venture Kick’s own profile states, Minysa’s goal is to make GaN “accessible to mainstream power electronics manufacturers” .

Target Markets: Starting with Space, Scaling to >$5B in Addressable Markets

Minysa’s initial focus is the European space power electronics sector, where radiation tolerance, efficiency, and miniaturization are critical . The company has officially joined ESA Business Incubation Centre Switzerland (ESA BIC Switzerland), gaining access to the space ecosystem and strategic partners .

Broader addressable markets worth > $5B in total include :

• Electric vehicles (EVs)
• Drones
• Aerospace
• Industrial IoT
• Robotics
• Data centers

Customer Traction and ESA Context

Public sources confirm Minysa is working on radiation-tolerant GaN ICs for space and is already engaged with space and industrial customers . The company’s ambition, as stated on its own materials, is to “build, from Switzerland, sovereign semiconductor technologies for the European space industry” .

It is important to note that the names of four specific space industry customers and two named ESA-funded programmes referenced in some inquiries are not explicitly listed in currently available public reporting (Tech.eu, Venture Kick, punkt4, Moneycab) . Earlier ESA development work on monolithic GaN integration — such as the GANIC4S programme with partners like Thales Alenia Space and IMEC — exists in the broader European GaN ecosystem, but those programmes predate Minysa’s current commercial traction and are distinct from its own product roadmap .

The Bottom Line

Minysa is tackling the hardest engineering problem in GaN power electronics: the gate driver. By integrating protection, sensing, and monitoring into a single chip, it removes the design barriers that have kept GaN from going mainstream. With €163K in fresh Venture Kick funding and a clear path from space to e-mobility, Minysa is positioning itself as a key enabler of the next generation of power systems — smaller, cooler, and radically more efficient.