Irish electrochromic display firm raises $9.5 million

EE Times UK - Irish electrochromic display firm raises $9.5 million

DUBLIN, Republic of Ireland -- Ntera Ltd., a developer of materials for so-called electrochromic display applications, has secured US$9.5 million in a round of funding, which it intends to use to expand its manufacturing operations and to drive international sales, the company said Tuesday (May 4).

The round was led by Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures and existing shareholders also participated and helped bring the total raised by Ntera to $30 million so far. The new funding moves the company from its research and development phase to a full-scale commercial production phase, the company said.

The money is to be used to extend manufacturing operations in Taiwan and Ireland and enable the roll out of commercial products ranging from handheld screens to large-scale public clocks and information systems. Ntera's technology is an extension of electrochromic display, which has been around for numerous years but suffered form long switching times, weak coloration and temperature sensitivity. Ntera claims to have solved these problems with a self-assembling monolayer that is formed over electrodes. The so called nanochromic display (NCD) technology has more than four times the reflectivity and contrast of a liquid crystal display, according to Ntera.