Murali "Lee" Arikara replaces Larry Bawden, who stepped down to spend more time with his family, Arikara said. 

Bawden, who founded the company with Arikara, did not return a message left with an assistant. 

As director of business development, Arikara played a key role in lining up research agreements and funding from U.S. defense agencies. 

"This is a fantastic opportunity for Lee to leverage his network of relationships ... as the face of the company closing deals," said Jack Crawford Jr., a general partner with Velocity Venture Capital LLC in Folsom. 

Velocity led a round of financing announced last week that raised an undisclosed amount of money for Jadoo. It was Velocity's first investment in Jadoo, and its largest investment in any company. Jadoo's earlier investors -- Mohr, Davidow Ventures and Venrock Associates, both of Menlo Park -- also participated in the financing, said Mohr, Davidow Ventures partner Erik Straser in an e-mail. 

Bawden will continue to serve as chairman of the company's board of directors. 

"He's got industry expertise and contacts that will continue to remain important for the company," Crawford said. 

Arikara "offers a perfect combination to carry us forward," Bawden said in a news release. "This is the time for new executive leadership, to step in and drive the company to realize its full potential; it is the right direction and the right time." 

Jadoo makes fuel cells that use hydrogen to produce power for television cameras, surveillance equipment and other electronic equipment typically powered by batteries or propane stored in canisters. 

Arikara said Jadoo has two major technology-development goals: making fuel cells that provide 10 times the power capacity of currently available batteries and selling fuel cells for mobile power supplies at the same price as propane generators. 

Defense agencies have provided money for developing and field-testing some of Jadoo's technology, including fuel cells that have successfully powered unmanned air and ground vehicles, Arikara said. Fuel cells weigh less than batteries, so the company has also marketed them for walkie-talkies and other equipment carried by soldiers and emergency personnel. 

The U.S. Fuel Cell Council, a Washington, D.C. trade group, reported in November that about 40 fuel cell products have reached the market. Jadoo appears prominently on the list with six products, had more than any other company.