US-based conductive ink and film developer C3Nano has completed a $15m series D round that included corporates Nissha Printing, Nagase America and Hitachi Chemical.
Printing and sensor equipment producer Nissha and industrial equipment makers Nagase and Hitachi were joined by venture capital firm GSR Venture, which led the round, diversified holding group Xinjiang Guoli Minsheng Equity Investment and Phoenix Venture Partners.
The round also featured various undisclosed investors, one of which was described in a statement as “a leading Silicon Valley technology company”.
Founded and spun out of the Stanford University chemical engineering laboratory of Professor Zhenan Bao in 2010, C3Nano develops transparent conductive inks and films that are used in the touch sensor industry as replacements for indium tin oxide.
The funding will go to expanding C3Nano’s production capacity in South Korea and building new manufacturing capacity in China, where it already has sales and technical support in place. Additional cash will be used to develop new technology at the company’s US base.
The round took C3Nano’s total funding to approximately $37m and follows a $12m series C round in 2014 that was co-led by Nagase America Corporation and an unnamed industrial firm and backed by GSR, Phoenix and investment holding company Hongguo International.
Cliff Morris, chief executive of C3Nano, said: “We are delighted to welcome our new investors and thank our existing investors for their continued support.
“As the OLED (organic light-emitting diode) and flexible display markets accelerate and with the commitment of our strong investors, strategic industry partners, loyal customers and dedicated employees, C3Nano is globally positioned to grow and prosper. I see a bright future for us all.”