Nanotechnology

[FreeGrass]

Nanosys Raises $25 million for Thin Solar Panel Development

Nanosys, the Palo-Alto advanced materials architect, announced it raised $25 million in Series E funding this week, as well as plans to form an alliance with Samsung in the development of thin solar panels, memory products and display technologies.

Samsung and the nanotechnology provider will co-develop commercial applications for nano-architected materials for thin film solar and electronics markets, working together to create more efficient and better cost effective models for solar, display, semiconductor, LED and memory markets. As part of the deal, Samsung will invest $15 million of that Series E funding through its Samsung Venture Investment branch.

“We believe that working closely with Nanosys will help us to develop exciting new products for our customers that will address needs in the world’s largest markets across a number of technologies,” said Seungho Ahn, senior vice president of the Intellectual Property Center at Samsung Electronics. “We believe that working closely with Nanosys will help us to develop exciting new products for our customers that will address needs in the world’s largest markets across a number of technologies.”
Connected to the Samsung deal, another $10 million will be invested into Nanosys from existing backers that include Arch Venture Partners, El Dorado Ventures, Polaris Venture Capital and Venrock.

Since 2001, Nanosys has managed to raise around $94 million. This latest cash investment serves as a nice tip from Samsung, a South Korean electronics giant that had $116.8 billion in consolidated sales in 2009. As the solar and electronic display industries evolve in technology, Nanosys is posed to become a major player. Earlier this year, the company announced an agreement with LG Innotek, the electronics component manufacturer, for the use of Nanosys' quantum dot phosphors in displays, which the company claims is the first “real world” commercial application of quantum dots in electronics.

“Samsung is a clear leader in the electronics and solar sectors,” said Jason Hartlove, CEO of Nanosys. “Not only does Samsung bring deep knowledge of solar, memory and display technologies and markets, they bring tremendous experience in scaling up new technologies, which will help us accelerate the development, production and market introduction of devices enabled by our nano-architected materials.”