Santa Cruz Startup Ambient Announces HQ and Production

Bates Marshall / CEO Ambient Photonics

Selected as one of the Top Santa Cruz Companies to Watch in 2021, Ambient Photonics powered our entrepreneurial spirits this week when they announced that they are breaking ground on their new California headquarters facility which will be co-located with their first automated production center. With capacity in the tens of millions of units per year, products powered by Ambient PV cells will find their way into markets around the world. We asked CEO Bates Marshall to “spill the tea”.

SCW: California is a big place. Can you tell us that your HQ is in Santa Cruz?

Marshall: Working hard to keep it in the area! 20,000 sq feet and city assistance would be great.

SCW: Why Santa Cruz?

Marshall: First, there is a tremendous community of talent here that are mostly working for companies over The Hill. Those commuters would prefer to work where they live and create local green tech jobs. And because I grew up here. I know that Santa Cruzians have the same vision and values that Ambient has for solving energy using green tech.

SCW: Will you be hiring soon?

Marshall: Yes, we will start mid-year. We will scale up by 40 by end of 2022.

SCW: Endless power? Tell us about your tech.

Marshall: Ambient has developed world leading low light energy harvesting solar photovoltaic cells, enabling entirely new concepts of connected IoT devices. With three times the power density of conventional low light PV cells our customers are developing sophisticated self-powered products which never have to be recharged.

While our cells have found great value in a variety of smart home applications, our technology is equally at home in applications as diverse as electronic shelf labels, wireless industrial sensors, Bluetooth beacons, and many more.

In all of these applications, we are helping our customers add value to their products through added convenience, improved functionality, and a vastly superior sustainability profile by eliminating disposable batteries.

SCW: Rumor has it that you were recently awarded at CES 2021.

Marshall: I am pleased to share that Ambient was awarded a CES 2021 Innovation Award for Sustainability, Eco-Design, and Smart Energy. We are honored to be recognized for our breakthrough technology and value-add to our customers products. 

You can read more about our award at Tech Republic. 

We were also delighted to hear at CES the world’s largest television manufacturer announcing their transition to embedded PV cells to power their remote controls, eliminating 99 million disposable batteries from the waste stream. We are proud to be at the forefront of this trend to combat battery waste while improving the functionality of connected devices.

SCW: Santa Cruz Works’ 4th Annual Green Tech is on April 7. Would you be so kind to present?

Marshall: Yes, absolutely!