£250,000 xénos and Finance Wales co-investment helps SmartKem
develop smart laser printable electronic processes
29 March 2010
SmartKem will now use the investment to accelerate its growth
as it exploits the multi-billion pound printable electronics
industry.
The company recently relocated to St Asaph's Technium Optic
after attracting a £250,000 xénos and Finance Wales co-investment,
as well as a Welsh Assembly Government grant.
Its processes will enable electronic circuits to be printed on a
range of surfaces and will significantly impact the manufacturing
of electronic components and reduce manufacturing costs in a range
of consumer products.
Smart packaging, thermal clothing, roll-up display screens,
flat-screen TVs, flexible electronic paper, radio frequency ID
(RFID) tags and sensors will all benefit from developments in
printable electronics technology in future.
"SmartKem will be the first organisation fully committed to the
laser generation and structuring of functional printed electronic
thin films – a unique marriage of photonics, chemistry and
electronics," says Steve Kelly, SmartKem's managing director.
"In order to realise our vision of building a world-class
collaborative technological enterprise typically the realm of
semiconductor companies, we required investors that would not only
enable the company to get off the ground, but share our passion for
this rapidly advancing and highly innovative technological space.
"xénos put us in touch with a number of private investors and we
were able to access the funds within three weeks!"
Commenting on the investment, regional manager for North Wales,
Nick Bradley said: "Although early stage and very high risk,
SmartKem provided xénos investors and Finance Wales with a great
opportunity to invest early-on in both a highly innovative company
and a rapidly growing sector.
"SmartKem plans to develop novel processes for using low-power
lasers with light-reactive chemical coatings and organic substrates
to produce printable electronic components. This is a platform
technology with future patents likely to be more
application-specific, thereby providing substantial scope for
future investment."
The market for laser printable electronics technology is growing
and SmartKem is currently developing a number of patent-protected
processes which it intends to exploit commercially.
This investment round will help SmartKem produce early 'proof of
principle' examples of its processes. The company now plans to
collaborate with a number of St Asaph-based companies and other
Wales-based prototyping and manufacturing companies on product and
application development.
SmartKem aims to have early demonstrations of its groundbreaking
technology available by the end of the first quarter in 2010, when
it will embark on further fundraising to develop product
applications.
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