Nanosys strengthened its competitive standing in the clean-tech market by securing as much as $30 million in new funding and striking a deal to have Samsung use its solar technology.
The Palo Alto start-up that became a poster child of the nanotech craze six years ago, has been steadily remaking itself into a supplier of technology to electronics and green-tech companies. The heady days are gone, as are the plans for a 2004 IPO.
But the company has built a respectable portfolio of technologies that boost the capacity of lithium ion batteries and improve the quality and efficiency of LED displays and solid-state lighting.
Now it has received validation of its solar technology in the form of a licensing agreement with Samsung. As part of the deal, Samsung Venture Investment Corp. will take a $15 million equity stake in Nanosys – on top of the millions more the company will pay for the license.
Previous Nanosys investors Arch Venture Partners, El Dorado Ventures, Polaris Venture Capital and Venrock will join the funding round, contributing $10 million. Nanosys expects to add another $5 million to the round by October.
CEO Jason Hartlove says the Samsung money will allow Nanosys to build a Silicon Valley plant and ramp production volumes.
But more importantly, Samsung will license Nanosys’ nano-particle coating technology and nano-inks to improve the efficiency and lower the cost of its thin-film solar cell production.
Samsung, a relatively latecomer to solar, announced earlier this week that it would more than quadruple solar cell production by the first half of next year. The company kicked off a 30 MW solar pilot last September and now has set its sights on 130 MW. It is reportedly working with both crystalline cells and thin film technologies.
Hartlove says his nano-particle coatings shift the infrared and ultraviolet wavelength light that thin film can’t process to colors the cells can absorb. Efficiency goes up. Meanwhile, nano-inks are quicker and cheaper alternatives to the chemical vapor deposition reactors that thin-film producers often use.
Samsung also will work with Nanosys on Nanosys’ quantum dot technology for LED chips.
“This is a very important deal for us,” says Hartlove.
