(October 1, 2010) — Adama Materials, Inc., a developer ofnanotechnology-based advanced materials, completed a $4.75 million Series A equity financing led by Artiman Ventures, along with Startup Capital Ventures, the company’s founders and a group of Hawaii-based angel investors including Cellular Bioengineering Inc.
The HI-based company also announced the appointment of Tim Dick from Startup Capital Ventures as CEO and a member of the board of directors. Also appointed to the board are Amit Shah of Artiman Ventures and John Dean of Startup Capital Ventures. They join founder and chief technology advisor, Dr. Mehrdad Ghasemi Nejhad, graduate chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Hawaii (UH), Manoa. The company’s co-founder, Donavan Kealoha, will serve as director of administration.
Adama Materials was founded when Kealoha, a graduate of UH’s Shidler School of Business and the William S. Richardson School of Law, and Dr. Nejhad won first place and the technology prize at the 2008 UH business plan competition. Funded originally through grants from the United States Office of Naval Research, the company now has active projects with tier-one aerospace and composites companies and several patents.
"The investment will allow commercialization of the technology Adama has developed over many years at UH, our long-term partner," stated Dr. Nejhad.
"We are delighted to achieve this financial milestone with Hawaii technology that leads the world in this field," said Dick. "It reflects the excitement in the market for the striking performance increases made possible by Adama’s technology."
"Adama represents the ideal model of cross-disciplinary development of technology, business and law at UH, and demonstrates how UH discoveries can be successfully transferred to industry," said Jonathan Roberts of the UH Office of Technology Transfer and Economic Development.
Terms of the Series A equity financing were not disclosed.
Adama Materials Inc. develops proprietary nanotechnology-based advanced materials for use in composite materials and other applications. For more information on Adama, go to www.adamamaterials.com
Artiman Ventures helps talented entrepreneurs commercialize leading-edge technologies to create world-class companies.
Startup Capital Ventures focuses on early-stage companies that require relatively small amounts of capital to achieve success.
The University of Hawaii provides unique educational opportunities for its 58,000 students to learn and develop from undergraduate through post-doctoral work at its 10 UH campuses and dozens of educational, training and research centers on six Hawaiian Islands.
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