Date: Dec 19, 2014 Author: Alex Knapp Source: Forbes (
click here to go to the source)
Last week, Baltimore-based nanotech firm Pixelligent Technologies closed a funding round of $5.5 million to continue its development and growth. This marks a total of $23 million in equity funding the firm has raised to date, plus another $10 million it's received in the form of government grants to develop its technology.
Pretty impressive, considering that the company was on its deathbed a few years ago.
Pixelligent was founded in the year 2000 by Gregory Cooper shortly after he received his Ph.D. in Physics. Cooper, who is currently the CTO of the company, was soon joined by two colleagues: Serpil Gonen Williams, a chemist, and Gene Chen, an electrical engineer, both of whom are still with the company.
The original vision of the company was to use its expertise in nanomaterials to develop composites for use in optical lithography, a process used for the manufacture of computer chips. However, the semiconductor business is a tough one, as the company discovered. Despite awards during its incubator phase, its attempts to raise enough money to develop its technology for the market failed.
The combination of this and a failed commercial partnership sent the company into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March of 2007. One year later, in March of 2008, the Court appointed Craig Bandes as the company's Chief Restructuring Officer. At the time, Bandes was President and CEO of Global Secure Corp. Prior to that, he had cofounded Focus Technology Consulting. Despite these successes, he didn't have an easy task ahead of him in rescuing the struggling startup.
"I helped them work through process of reorganization, settling litigation with partner that didn't work out, and getting control of its IP," Bandes told me. "As a consultant, I gave the company about a 10-20% chance of survival."
The company emerged from bankruptcy in April of 2009 with a plan for growth that involved moving away from the semiconductor market and a new President and CEO -- Craig Bandes. Bandes credits the successful emergence from bankruptcy to the company's strong foundation.
"The only thing that didn't need to be turned around was the technology," he said.
By contrast, Pixelligent builds their nanocrystals from the ground up -- well, in this case, the liquid up. Using liquid zirconium, they grow crystals by controlling the conditions of the liquid and introducing a different liquid source to change the surface chemistry of the crystals. The process is precise enough that the company can control the size and even shape of the nanocrystals that it grows, which also means it can avoid the clumping issues.
"This is a major enabler for LED companies to improve their cost per lumen equation, which is what matters for wider commercial adoption," said Russell.
The process is also more scalable than other technologies thanks to the use of the liquid chemistry, too, because the process is similar to other chemical manufacturing processes.
"Our scale is now dependent on customer demand, not the chemical process," Bandes told me.
And those companies have taken notice. Pixelligent now has nearly 40 customers, primarily in Asia, and the first products using its technology should be on store shelves in 2016. And while in past years the company has been dependent on government research grants, Bandes told me that 2014 is the first year "that we're becoming more reliant on commercial revenues rather than government contracts."
Bandes continued. "I don't think there's a leading chip manufacturer or silicone materials company that we're not engaged with. We are emerging as a leader in the LED space. That's what going to drive us into crossing over from raising investment capital to using revenue to drive our growth."
Not bad for a company that was in bankruptcy just five years ago.
Follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Read my Forbes blog here.
By contrast, Pixelligent builds their nanocrystals from the ground up -- well, in this case, the liquid up. Using liquid zirconium, they grow crystals by controlling the conditions of the liquid and introducing a different liquid source to change the surface chemistry of the crystals. The process is precise enough that the company can control the size and even shape of the nanocrystals that it grows, which also means it can avoid the clumping issues.
"This is a major enabler for LED companies to improve their cost per lumen equation, which is what matters for wider commercial adoption," said Russell.
The process is also more scalable than other technologies thanks to the use of the liquid chemistry, too, because the process is similar to other chemical manufacturing processes.
"Our scale is now dependent on customer demand, not the chemical process," Bandes told me.
And those companies have taken notice. Pixelligent now has nearly 40 customers, primarily in Asia, and the first products using its technology should be on store shelves in 2016. And while in past years the company has been dependent on government research grants, Bandes told me that 2014 is the first year "that we're becoming more reliant on commercial revenues rather than government contracts."
Bandes continued. "I don't think there's a leading chip manufacturer or silicone materials company that we're not engaged with. We are emerging as a leader in the LED space. That's what going to drive us into crossing over from raising investment capital to using revenue to drive our growth."
Not bad for a company that was in bankruptcy just five years ago.
Follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Read my Forbes blog here.
