Shocking Technologies,
Inc. a privately held company developing Voltage Switchable DielectricTM
(VSDTM) materials used for electrostatic discharge protection of cell phones,
LED's, semiconductors, and electronics, today announced it has raised
$10M in the second round of funding led by Vista Ventures. Other participating
investors include ARCH Venture Partners, ATA Ventures, Balch Hill Partners and
private investors. Shocking Technologies is pleased to welcome Simon Michael,
from Balch Hill Partners, as the newest member to the board of directors.
"Shocking's embedded nano-composite technology solves a problem
that has been plaguing the electronics industry for years. It will make design
at both the system and chip level considerably easier and more effective,"
said Jim Hogan of Vista Ventures.
"We have been very fortunate that we've identified a huge problem
and have been able to develop our unique patented solution," said Lex
Kosowsky, president and chief executive officer at Shocking Technologies. "The
funding will allow us to build out our manufacturing infrastructure and continue
our development as we work with our customers to bring our initial products,
cell phones and flash drives to market in the coming months."
Shocking Technologies, Inc. is a privately held, venture-backed company developing
"Voltage Switchable DielectricTM material is a polymer nano-composite
that behaves like an insulator (dielectric) during normal circuit operation
and becomes conductive when the voltage across the VSDTM material increases
beyond a predefined threshold voltage. After the voltage drops below the threshold
again, it switches back to an insulator. This unique property, coupled with
the ability to tailor the response of the material, opens up several new areas
in electronics. The first application being introduced enables embedded electrostatic
discharge (ESD) protection in printed circuit boards (PCBs) and semiconductor
packages. Subsequent applications will usher in new manufacturing processes
as well as novel product designs.