October 25, 2007
From Austria : Semiconductor 2.0
The title is the post is the trademarked tag-line of Austrian startup, NanoIdent. Unlike a lot of 2.0 startups this reporter has looked at over the past two years, this one feel like it is the beginning of something new.
The four year old Austrian company is specialized in developing and manufacturing printed semiconductors using organic and inorganic materials. It's already generating sales of single digit millions, mainly in customer-financed product development projects – not trials -- and it has visibility on ticking that figure up to a two digit million one next year.
The Linz-based startup has its own fab. It is not an indulgence, it is a necessity, according to Klaus G Schroeter, co-founder and CEO. "Our blue-chip customers won't abandon their old platforms for something new unless they can see that what we offer can be produced in volume," said Schroeter.
The recently completed fab in Austria is able to produce some 40K square meters of wafer chip surface a year (a phrase that is a throwback to silicon semiconductors).
This is what printable semiconductors from this startup look like
NanoIdent is working with companies in the diagnostics, biometrics, and industrial sensor markets in a classic OEM model.
Low cash burn
The company's co-founding duo is a scientific innovator, Franz Padinger, and an experienced entrepreneur, Klaus G. Schroeter. Padinger sold his last startup, QSEL, which developed the solar cell technology to Konarka Technologies, which is a well-funded startup based in the US.
Before teaming up with Padinger, he founded BioID AG, a biometrics company specialized in simultaneous recognition of face, voice and lip movements and employed 80. It was acquired by a publicly traded company.
Your a:c euro reporter first researched the company back in 2005 and since then it has gone from prototype of one type of optical sensor to being able to offer several kinds of sensors, including diagnostic sensors (for DNA-based blood tests, for example), as well as the handheld reader technology to go with them.
A lab on a chip or handheld diagnostics product
It has done this on a remarkably small amount of invested capital, some €12.5M including debt. It is currently raising €10M in equity financing and hopes to attract family offices or high net worth individuals to the round.
Talent Seeks The Edge
Nanoident employs about 65 scientists and specialized researchers from 12 different nations. "Recruiting talent from around the world is not that difficult. Everyone wants to be on the forefront … to be part of the first company to produce sensors and sensor systems in printed semiconductors," said Schroeter.
The Austrian venture recently moved the headquarters of its diagnostic business unit, BioIdent, to California with a Sand Hill Rd address.
A mobile phone concept with a biometric sensor from NanoIdent
View Nanoident
Posted at 08:26 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
October 01, 2006
NeoGuide's Colonoscopy 2.0, One For Andy Kessler's Sweet Spot
With Andy Kessler's new book The End of Medicine, which is about his search for scalable technologies for early detection of the world's three biggest killer diseases, fresh in our minds, we note Advent Venture Partners latest investment in a company called NeoGuide Systems, developing a newfangled imaging system for scoping the colon for signs of cancer. The London-based VC has led a $25M round in this US based company.
Read -Colonoscopy 2.0 (alarm:clock)
Posted at 07:37 AM | TrackBack | Permalink
August 08, 2006
Swedish Skin Cancer Scanner Finds VC
We posted this week about Andy Kessler's new book that may popularize investments in diagnostic and early detection of disease, we think it is a category worth watching and are adding it to our daily news trawling and tracking.
(It does not mean we are now following biotech or pharma innovations too. Rather we've just added a new category called Disease and Clinical Diagnostics.)
The first one in this new category is SciBase which developed a handy device for the early discovery of skin cancer, and has just raised 100 Swedish Kronor, about €10.9M from several big name Nordic funds, namely Investor, SEB and CapMan invest.
The startup said its tech can discover skin cancer in minutes with a high degree of accuracy, and it is non-invasive. It means that cutting out a piece of skin and sending it to a lab and waiting for the results is not necessary.
The firm bundles an impedance spectrometer (a device that emits and measure light signals as they interact with a surface or material), together with data collection software, and a probe with microscopic spikes on the end.
The spikey bit is a "disposable", which is a key part of its business model. In the diagnostics market, disposables mean recurring revenues for whoever is marketing such devices.
The market launch is planned for 2007-2008. Among the potential customers are hospitals as well as individual clinics.
The VCs now own 80 percent of the Swedish company.
Read - Scibase Raises SEK 100M (scibase)
Read - Ex-hedgie Sees Money In Tech Disease Diagnostics (alarm:clock euro)
