SDCmaterials plans production at BASF's Schwarzheide site
27 Jun '07
3 min read
BASF Venture Capital GmbH, Ludwigshafen, Germany, is increasing its shareholding in SDCmaterials Inc, Arizona, U.S. SDCmaterials develops and produces innovative nano materials for customers in the automotive and chemical industries as well as for the medical technology sector.
SDCmaterials has raised $6.3 million (approximately €4.7 million) in its Series A financing round, of which BASF Venture Capital is providing $2 million (approximately €1.5 million). Other investors include Emerald Technology Ventures.
BASF Venture Capital's U.S. subsidiary invested $600,000 in a seed financing round last year in SDCmaterials. SDCmaterials, which was founded in July 2004, will use the proceeds from the financing round to increase its workforce, and expand production capacity in the U.S. and Germany.
The American start-up's materials are used primarily for advanced catalysts and advanced ceramic materials. Using a method where materials are evaporated in an electrically-generated plasma, SDCmaterials can produce several grams of a wide range of nano powders within a very short time, and thus support customers in significantly reducing development times of catalysts or inorganic materials.
By up-scaling its process to ton scale, SDCmaterials can offer its customers large quantities of nano materials in a constant quality.
“We are very pleased to have won BASF and Emerald as well as two private groups as investors in SDCmaterials”, said Dr. Maximilian A. Biberger, CEO of SDCmaterials. “These investors are excellent partners to support SDCmaterials' catalyst and nano materials.”