POLICY NEWS

Oxides get Five Star funds

Massachusetts-based Nantero, Inc. has received $10.5 million insecond-round funding. Bruce Sachs and Bill Tai of new lead investorCharles River Ventures have joined the board. Returning existinginstitutional investors include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Stata VenturePartners and Harris & Harris Group. Nantero is developing NRAM™, a ‘universal’ random access memorychip that uses nanotechnology to achieve the speeds of static randomaccess memory (SRAM), the densities of dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM), and the nonvolatility of flash memory but with lowerpower consumption and unlimited endurance. Initial results of a collaborative project since early 2003 show thatsemiconductor equipment from Dutch company ASML is “fully capableof handling nanotubes using Nantero protocols and of carrying outNantero’s new manufacturing steps without any modifications”. Usingstandard semiconductor processes, Nantero has created multipleprototypes including an array of ten billion suspended nanotubejunctions on a single Si wafer as memory bits – the up positionrepresenting ‘zero’, while a tube bent into contact with the surfacebelow represents ‘one’. The nanotubes can be switched between thetwo states by applying an electrical field. Nantero is planning to license a technology transfer package tomemory chip manufacturers, including a process module andassociated process knowledge, intellectual property rights, andnecessary nanotube materials.

Nanotube memory switched on

PROCESSING

Cleveland-based Five Star Technologies has closed a $4.5 millionSeries C funding round led by Morgenthaler Ventures. Otherinvestors include Chevron Technology Ventures, Early StagePartners, and Industrial Technology Ventures. The company will continue development of applications for itscontrolled flow cavitation technology. This is a high-throughputhydrodynamic cavitation process for the manufacture ofnanoscale materials through the formation, growth, andimplosive collapse of vapor bubbles in a liquid, created byfluctuations in fluid pressure. The process allows production ofparticles in high volume and custom-selection of characteristicssuch as uniform particle size and crystalline structure. Five Star is focusing on complex oxides, which enable custom-design. The creation of uniform nanoparticles can enhance theireffectiveness by increasing total surface area, improvingabsorption, and adding other beneficial attributes. Target markets are firstly pharmaceuticals, emission controlcatalysts, specialty chemicals, and advanced polymers, thenwastewater treatment, mineral recovery, and consumer healthand beauty products. A core technology team will work on eachwith individual business development groups. “We plan to workclosely with our venture capital and corporate partners,” sayspresident and CEO James Mazzella. Five Star will license technology to users that need nanomaterialprocessing to be integrated with other production capabilities.

ELECTRONIC MATERIALS

FABRICATION AND

New Jersey’s NanoOpto Corporation,

which is applying nanofabrication to the

rapid design and high-volume

manufacture of subwavelength devices

for optical systems and networks, has

completed Series B funding with a

further $7 million from equity partners

Morgenthaler Ventures, Bessemer

Venture Partners, Draper Fisher

Jurvetson Gotham Ventures, Draper

Fisher Jurvetson New England

Ventures, US Trust’s Excelsior Venture

Partners III LLC, and Harris & Harris

Group. The total raised is now

$27 million, enabling continued

technology and product

commercialization and advancement

into the revenue stage for optical data

transfer, telecoms, sensors, and

displays markets.

* Nanomaterials have lured significant

investment so far this year, including:

• $32.4 million in Series D funding

for California-based Catalytic

Solutions Inc. (bringing the total to

$72 million since 1996);

• $2.9 million in second-round

funding for autocatalyst developer

Nanox, Inc. of Québec, led by

Pangaea Ventures and including

Solidarity Fund QFL, Business

Development Bank of Canada

(BDC) Venture Capital, and Sovar;

• An equity investment and joint

development agreement with

Air Products and Chemicals Inc.

for Austin-based nanopowder

supplier Nanotechnologies Inc.;

• $38 million in second-round funding

for Palo Alto-based nano-enabled

system developer Nanosys, Inc. led

by CDIB Bioscience Ventures and

involving UOB Hermes Asia

Technology Fund and UOB Venture

Technology Investments Ltd,

Healthcare Focus Fund L.P., and

corporate investors Eastman

Kodak Co. and H.B. Fuller Co.

NanoOpto gets$27 million VENTURE CAPITAL

* Gothenburg-based nanobiotech

company Nanoxis AB has secured

$222 680 in funds from Creandum KB,

The Technology Link Foundation in

Gothenburg (TBSG), The Holding

Company at the University of Göteborg

(GU Holding AB) and AB

Chalmersinvest. Nanoxis is developing

nanoanalytical platforms for the

identification of proteins (proteinchips).

* Austin-based NanoCoolers Inc. has

raised at least $8.5 million of an

$11 million round led by Draper Fisher

Jurvetson (whose managing director

Jennifer Fonstad joins the board),

along with Austin Ventures (which

contributed $4 million in the first

round in December 2002) and an

undisclosed strategic investor. In a

year’s time workspace should triple to

1200 m2 and staffing double to 30.

Potential customers are testing

product prototypes, which will cool

computer processors and should be

released in the first half of 2005.

* Mitsui is investing $35.7 million over

the next five years in nanotech-related

R&D for life science and environmental

uses, involving its small tech research

centers, which are devoted to biology,

ecology, carbon nanotubes, and

devices. The project will also seek to

combine inorganic materials with

proteins for regenerative medicine.

* Venture capital firm Harris & Harris

Group is making a public offering of

two million shares of its common stock

to provide working capital and make

initial and follow-on investments.

Investments to date include NanoGram

Devices, NanoOpto, Nanopharma,

Nanosys, Nanotechnologies Inc.,

Nantero, NeoPhotonics, and Optiva.

* Battelle, comanager of the Oak Ridge

National Laboratory, is launching a

$150 million venture capital fund for

turning technologies at its labs into

profitable private companies.

Investmentround-upVENTURE CAPITAL

December 200314