Cleantech Investor

First published in Cleantech Infocus: 2010 - Equity Deals of the Year, January 2011. Copyright Cleantech Investor Ltd.

The most high profile deal of the year in LEDs was the listing of Taiwanese LED manufacturer, SemiLEDs, on NASDAQ in December. SemiLEDs raised $79 million. Also in December, but at the other end of the scale, ProPhotonix listed on the AIM market in London, raising £0.8 million.

In terms of venture funding, the $62 million raised by Bridgelux in the US was the largest deal announced. It was closely followed by China’s Lattice Power, which raised $55 million. Lattice Power is notable for its GaN-on-silicon technology: other deals for companies with innovations in the GaN-on-silicon niche, which is attracting the attention of venture investors, included glo AB and Azzuro Semiconductors.

Elsewhere, notable venture investment deals in LEDs included Redwood Systems and Nualight – both focused on built environment applications for LEDs.

SemiLEDs Corporation

IPO - NASDAQ

Taiwanese LED manufacturer SemiLEDs raised $79 million in December with a NASDAQ listing at a price of $17 per share. SemiLEDs manufactures LED chips and LED components for general lighting applications, including street lights and commercial, industrial and residential lighting. Blue, green and ultraviolet (UV) LED chips are sold under the MvpLED brand to customers concentrated in Asia, particularly China. SemiLEDs has patented a process entailing a vertical structure for the manufacture of its MvpLED metal alloy chips.

ProPhotonix Limited

IPO – London Stock Exchange (AIM)

LED and photonics technology manufacturer ProPhotonix joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in December. ProPhotonix manufactures LED arrays and engines in Cork, Ireland, the fastest growing part of the business. It also manufactures laser diodes in the UK. ProPhotonix has historically focused on the machine vision sector, but has been making inroads in the medical sector. The company raised £825,000 from a placing at 20p and converted $1.27 million of debt into shares.  

Bridgelux Inc.

Venture Capital Fund Raising

LED manufacturer Bridgelux raised some $62 million in Series D funding in 2010, taking the total Series D round to $92 million. The company has confirmed that it received investment from NASDAQ-listed Molex, which manufactures interconnectors, in addition to venture capital investors including VantagePoint, Chrysalix, DCM and El Dorado Ventures. Bridgelux and Molex have jointly developed the Helieon light module.

Lattice Power Corporation

Venture Capital Fund Raising

Chinese LED lighting company Lattice Power, based in Nanchang, raised funding of $55.5 million from the World Bank Group’s IFC. The IFC joins existing investors GSR Ventures, Mayfield Fund, AsiaVest Partners, Keytone Ventures, and Temasek Holdings. Lattice Power, which has launched the ‘Snowcone’ LED lightbulb, has also developed a disruptive silicon-based GaN LED technology.

glo AB

Venture Capital Fund Raising

Wellington has invested in glo AB, a Swedish nanotechnology company spun out of Lund University, which has developed LEDs based on GaN nanowire materials. Other investors in the SEK170 million funding round included Provider Venture Partners, Hafslund Venture and VantagePoint Venture Partners. The company is developing low cost nanowire LEDs, which operate at levels of brightness suitable for general illumination applications.

Azzurro Semiconductors AG

Venture Capital Fund Raising

Azzurro Semiconductors, a German semiconductor company which has pioneered the growth of gallium nitride on silicon substrates using metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE), raised €14.5 million in funding from Emerald Technology Ventures, Good Energies and Wellington Partners. Markets for GaN-on-silicon include power electronics (for improving switching efficiencies in AC/DC conversion) as well as LED wafers. Azzuro will use the funds to add manufacturing capacity.

Redwood Systems Inc.

Venture Capital Fund Raising

Redwood Systems raised $15 million from a group of investors led by Index Ventures and including Battery Ventures and US Venture Partners. Redwood has developed a unified power and control lighting system to optimise LED lighting, combining power and control over a low-voltage network.

Nualight

Venture Capital Fund Raising

Climate Change Capital led a funding round amounting to €9 million in Irish company Nualight in the first half of 2010. Other investors included ESB novomodus, the renewable energy investment fund of ESB, the Irish state electricity company, and 4th Level Ventures. Nualight’s LED light fixtures are used for illuminating display cases in international food and high-end retail chains.