Lund (Sweden) based nanowire semiconductor LED developer GLO
AB today announced the closing of an SEK 82 million Series B investment
round (approximately USD 11.6 million).
Dr. Bo Pedersen, GLO's chief executive officer, said, "We are delighted
to welcome as new investors both Hafslund Venture AS, a wholly owned subsidiary
of Hafslund ASA, and Agder Energi Venture AS, a unit of Agder Energi AS."
Both Hafslund and Agder are major power generation companies in the Nordic region,
and both have substantial, successful investment track-records with a renewable
energy focus. Hafslund Venture, for example, made its first investment in Renewable
Energy Corporation in 1998, and is today the second largest shareholder in a
company that has become one of the leading PV Solar companies in the world.
Current investors joining in the round in GLO include funds advised by venture
capital firms Provider Venture Partners of Stockholm, Teknoinvest and Nano Future
Invest of Oslo, joined by LU Innovation together with LUAB, the investment arm
of Lund University (Sweden), as major owners, along with the founders and employees
of GLO.
According to CEO Pedersen, "By employing vertically-oriented heterostructured
nanowires as light-emitting diodes, we are developing LEDs at levels of brightness
suitable for general illumination applications and with efficacies equal to
or better than current state-of-the-art planar chips, yet at simultaneously
dramatically lower cost by using readily available, low-cost and large area
silicon substrates with mass-production friendly technologies. The Series B
funding will enable us to complete initial product development and begin scaled
transition to the pilot production stage on large-area silicon wafers."
Founded in September 2005, GLO is a technology spin-out from the Nanometer
Structure Consortium ("nmC") at Lund University and is focused on
commercialisation in the field of light-emitting diodes for general illumination
of the heterostructured nanowire technology research of Dr. Lars Samuelson,
Professor of Solid State Physics, and the world-class team at Lund University.
GLO controls a significant portfolio of patents and patent applications covering
relevant innovations made by the Lund team and by GLO itself. The company will
continue to enjoy a close working relationship with nmC and will have access
under contract to relevant labs and intellectual property developed there.
Dr. Samuelson, who serves as Chief Scientific Officer of GLO in parallel to
his duties at the Lund University and with nmC, also chairs GLO's Contributing
Scientific Council that includes leaders such as Prof. Federico Capasso of Harvard
University and Prof. Philip Wong of Stanford University.
"GLO's unique approach within the emerging field of solid state lighting
based upon nanowire technology on silicon substrates is a very promising candidate
for low-cost, mass production of ultra-high brightness LEDs, which in turn will
lead to mass market adoption of energy-saving LEDs for commercial and residential
illumination," said Tore Schiøtz, CEO of Hafslund Venture. "Unlike
current technology employed in conventional energy-saving lighting products
such as compact florescent lamps (CFLs), LEDs contain no hazardous heavy metals
such as mercury, have even more extended lifetimes (up to 50,000 hours useful
life) and save even more power," he concluded.
Posted September 3rd, 2009
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