California: California based developer of nanomaterials-based transparent conductive film, C3Nano has secured $6.7 million in its series B round of funding led by Phoenix Venture Partners. The round also saw the participation of existing investor GSR Ventures. The company has raised a total of $10 million till date,  As part of the investment Nobi Kambe, General Partner, Phoenix Ventures will be joining the company’s board. The company plans to use the funds to expand its team and facility to support its scaling efforts. It will also continue to engage with various partners and customers.  

“Phoenix Venture Partners consists of material science experts who have created or funded many very successful material science companies. GSR is a team of very experienced and intelligent investors who have done tremendously well with the recent funds. Both our investors see C3Nano as a company which has a unique technology that can address the gigantic transparent conductor market. This market is exploding due to the proliferation of smart-phones, tablets, and consumer optoelectronic device. Moreover, we believe both investors are strategic since they have significant domain expertise and strong connectivity in Asia,” says Ajay Virkar, Founder, C3Nano.

The company was founded in 2010 by Cliff Morris, Melbs LeMieux, and Ajay Virkar. It offers a solution coated transparent electrode that competes with indium tin oxide (ITO) to the display, electronics, and solar industries. It estimates that printable conductive inks offer high levels of performance and are becoming a viable option for transparent conductors. The company has a hybrid approach to address issues such as conductivity. Its carbon-based conductive inks offer a high performance solution at affordable prices. Its transparent conductive materials are robust, making them a good option for emerging flexible and stretchable electronics.

Talking about the competition, Virkar adds, “We estimate the projected market size for transparent conductors to be $10billion by 2016.  The transparent conductor market is large and growing and has fueled a lot of interest in the area. We believe we have a unique technology which may give us the edge in several applications which require transparent conductors. Our material has been testing well with customers who have already looked at other alternatives.”

Virkar holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University and a BS in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from University of Illinonis. He has also co-authored 13 technical publications and has three patents pending.
“C3Nano’s carbon-based platform technology has the potential to become the preeminent alternative to ITO, and we look forward to working with them to complete product commercialization of their ink technology,” says Nobi Kambe, General Partner, Phoenix Ventures.

Phoenix Venture Partners is a venture capital firm which invests in and partners with entrepreneurs to commercialize breakthrough materials science innovations. Few of its portfolio investments include Senova Systems, DuraFizz, Finisar, Nanoconduction, ICBM, Serenex, 2C Optics, Valeritas, ZMS, and Neophotonics among others. It is based in Silicon Valley and has offices in Singapore and Cambridge.

GSR Ventures is a venture capital fund which focuses primarily in high-tech startups with significant operations in China and serving the global markets. It has over $1 billion under its management. It has offices in Beijing and Silicon Valley. Few of its portfolio investments include Qunar.com, RedAtoms, StudyEZ, Playdom, and Pingo among others.