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Nanotechnology - Monday, March 5, 2007

Nano Materials' Liquidia Raises $16M

Liquidia, which is based in Morrisville, NC and gets its start in the labs at the University of North Carolina, develops fluoro-polymer materials for the life sciences and advanced materials markets. It has developed a nonstick material that can be made into molds for manufacturing microscopic particles. Pharmaceutical companies might use the molds to fashion tiny vessels to deliver drugs inside cells, while electronics companies could construct minute parts for computer chips or semiconductors. Applications include photovoltaics, fuel cells, optics and displays as well as drug therapies and medical devices.

The company has yet to see much sales traction. As a local paper put it: Liquidia Technologies' biggest problem may be choosing which billion-dollar market it tackles first." Liquidia's largest customer is Siemens. The companies are developing laboratories on a chip that would allow doctors to make short-lived, cancer-detecting drugs immediately before their patients have diagnostic scans.

It has now raised an additional $16M, in Series B funding led by New Enterprise Associates led the deal and joined by return backers Firelake Capital and the Wakefield Group.

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