July 30, 2009: NanoDynamics has ceased operations and filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy, unable to find financing after a pair of abandoned IPOs and the current stagnant funding environment. This particular filing is a liquidation move, not a restructuring as would be in a Chapter 11 filing.

The company, which spanned three sites in NY, PA, and OH and nearly 100 employees working on nanoparticles used in fuel cells, water filtration, and construction materials, had announced nearly $2.5M in federal funding for two projects in January, but apparently that wasn’t enough. “While NanoDynamics has technology and products that the world needs as well as an intelligent and dedicated team of employees, the funding to continue simply does not exist,” CEO William Cann reportedly told employees in an email, according to the Buffalo News.

The Business First of Buffalo noted 2008 regulatory filings indicating NanoDynamics had about $8.8M in sales but $34M in losses. “Given the current financial market conditions the ability to raise capital is very, very difficult,” said Raymond Fink from Harter Seacrest & Emery LLP who is representing the company in bankruptcy proceedings, told the paper, “particularly for a company that is primarily research and development and hasn’t quite yet gotten most of its products to the market.”