France-based LED display technology developer Aledia secured €80m ($93.9m) in series D funding yesterday from investors including Intel Capital, the corporate venturing arm of semiconductor and data technology producer Intel.
The round was led by Société de Projet Industriel, an investment fund managed by state-owned development bank BPIfrance, and featured ‘most’ of the company’s existing strategic backers, which include chipmaker Tokyo Electron, furniture retailer Ingka Group and automotive component producer Valeo.
Aledia is developing nanocrystal technology for use in the production of micro-LED displays. Based on microelectronics processes, it is designed to be highly scalable, and to be able to be manufactured at a considerably lower cost than traditional 2D LED technology.
The series D financing represented the first tranche of a round Aledia expects to close at €120m, and it increased the company’s funding to approximately $174m since it was spun out of research institute CEA-Leti in 2011.
Aledia raised $31m in a 2015 series B round featuring Ikea GreenTech, a subsidiary of Ingka’s sister company Ikea, as well as Valeo, BPIfrance’s Fonds Ecotechnologies fund and existing investors Sofinnova Partners, Braemar Energy Ventures, Demeter Partners and CEA Investissements.
Ikea, Intel Capital, BPIfrance Ecotechnologies Fund, Braemar Energy Ventures, Demeter Partners, Sofinnova Partners and Supernova Invest provided a further $37.4m in early 2018.
Ancoris Capital Partners is managing the series D fundraising while Orrick is legal adviser. The proceeds will support construction of a high-volume manufacturing facility Aledia is setting up in its home country.
