Protochips has closed on its first round of equity financing to support the introduction of the Aduro heated holder system for electron microscopy.
The company has been self-funded to date, deriving revenue from products that improve the performance of electron microscopes used in materials, energy and biological research.
Protochips has also executed USD1.25m in grants from sources including the US Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, NCIDEA and the North Carolina Department of Commerce.
Protochips's products revolutionise the testing of nano-materials, compounds and processes by enabling these materials to be studied in real operating conditions using standard laboratory equipment.
The products apply modern semiconductor technology to a field accustomed to working with decades old practices and tools.
The result is that corporations can now leverage their existing instrumentation for much more efficient and reliable commercialisation of technology.
The performance of new materials can now be studied and improved in the same type of environments that would be experienced in real-world applications.
Lifecycle testing of a new material that once took months can now be completed in an afternoon.
These possibilities mean that higher yields, improved efficiency and increased reliability can be achieved in a range of products, including batteries, catalysts and drug-delivery agents.
The funding will be used to build the marketing programme and add a sales and marketing team.
The Aduro products allow for the real-time study of materials inside microscopes at temperatures up to 1200C and changes at a rate of 1,000,000C per second.
Investors include Piedmont Angel Network, Jefferson Corner Group, Wilmington Investor Network and private individuals.
