MICROEMISSIVE Displays, a spin-out from Edinburgh and Napier universities, yesterday announced that it had closed a (pounds) 4.7m third-round funding deal – one of the largest venture capital dealsthis year in the embattled European opto-electronics sector.<\/p>\n
MED, which last year hit the headlines when it built the world’s smallest television screen, specialises in high-quality, light- emitting polymer-based microdisplays that are the quarter of the size of a postage stamp, with potential initial markets in digital cameras and camcorders.<\/p>\n
The fundraising, a combination of venture capital and lease financing, was led by Scottish Equity Partners, which also led the company’s second-round funding package in March last year.<\/p>\n
SEP was joined this time by a syndicate of existing and new investors, including BASF Venture Capital GmbH and 3i.<\/p>\n
Gary Le Sueur, associate director of SEP, said: “We believe that MED is now well placed to challenge the ubiquitous LCD microdisplay technology and be first to market with a lower power, higher- quality microdisplay which consumers will find very appealing.”<\/p>\n
Dr Jeff Wright, the company’s co-founder and chief technical officer, said the investment would be used to fund the mass-market production of its products, most of which will be manufactured in Scotland.<\/p>\n
“We’re hoping to sell our first products in the first quarter of next year, with volumes in the tens of thousands,” Wright said.<\/p>\n
“The big market is Asia, where most of the camcorders and digital cameras are made. We’ve already sold some development kits, which is a typical first stage for early-stage technology companies and very encouraging.<\/p>\n
“We’ve also held discussions with about 30 companies in Taiwan and Japan over the past 12 months, who are extremely interested in our technology.”<\/p>\n
Wright added that the company, which currently employs a staff of 22 at its base at the Scottish Microelectronics Centre, in Edinburgh, expected the workforce to rise to at least 30 by the middle of next year.<\/p>\n
He also predicted MED would break even in 2004, but declined to be more specific – except to say that it was “dependent on volume production”.<\/p>\n
One industry observer said: “I can’t think of a bigger deal in the opto-electronics sector this year and it’s certainly good news for the sector – although MED is not directly involved in the telecommunication side of opto-electronics, which has been particularly thrashed over the past couple of years.”<\/p>\n
The company, founded by Wright and Dr Ian Underwood in 1999, also sees applications for its technology in enabling video, full web pages, or high-resolution still images to be viewed on portable consumer products without appreciably reducing battery life.<\/p>\n
Microdisplays are also expected to have application in 3G mobile phones, toys, headsets for wearable computing, and a wide range of other headset products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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