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Singular ID wins Nanochallenge


November 15, 2005

Nov. 15, 2005 – Singular ID is the winner of Nanochallenge 2005, an international business plan competition for nanotechnology-based ideas, whose final event took place in Padua, Italy, last weekend. The winner receives a package of direct investment and services worth $350,000 to set up operations in Italy.

Adrian Burden and Peter Moran are the founders of Singular ID, a nanotechnology spin-off licensing core technology from the Agency for Science Technology and Research, Singapore. Their project focuses on the commercialization of magnetic tags for the protection of people, brands, corporate images and market shares.

Singular ID offers such a system through an integrated solution comprising tags, portable scanners, and a centralized authentication database. The tags are based on a patent protected nanotechnology that uses composite magnetic materials to create ‘fingerprints’ or ‘signatures’ on a very fine size scale. Consequently, these features are prohibitively difficult, if not impossible, to replicate.

“For Singular ID this means we can set up our European operations ahead of schedule,” Burden said in a prepared statement. “We will be drawing up the detailed plans over the coming months, but Singular ID Europe will comprises a business development office and applications laboratory that leverages on the nanotechnology facilities that have recently opened in the Veneto cluster.”

Nov. 15, 2005 – Rite Track, a West Chester, Ohio, manufacturer of track systems, announced the acquisition of on-line equipment broker SemiSurplus.com.

Tim Hayden, president and CEO of Rite Track, said the acquisition gives the company another source for the components it uses in its business and provides it with more flexibility in daily operations. SemiSurplus.com will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rite Track.

All operations of SemiSurplus.com will be incorporated into the Rite Track headquarters building within the next six months, although Rite Track says there are no plans to restrict its operations. Rite Track, established in 1993, is a supplier of new and remanufactured track systems for the semiconductor, MEMS, thin film head and solar cell industries.

Nov. 14, 2005 — CardioMEMS Inc., an Atlanta company focused on the application of MEMS technology to create innovative medical devices, announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance and the U.S. market launch of its EndoSure Wireless AAA Pressure Measurement System.

CardioMEMS says FDA clearance was based upon completion of a multi-center, international clinical study in which more than 100 patients in Brazil, Argentina, Canada and the United States successfully received an EndoSure sensor at the same time they had a stent-graft inserted to repair their aortic aneurysm. Implantation of the EndoSure Wireless AAA Pressure Sensor did not lead to any adverse events in the clinical trial.

The company says the sensor is the first wireless, un-powered, permanently implantable pressure sensor for human use to be commercially available in the United States. The system is based on innovations in both MEMS and wireless technologies. It is comprised of the EndoSure sensor, a unique delivery catheter, the external interrogation device and proprietary software. CardioMEMS says the sensor, which is implanted during the endovascular aortic repair procedure, is compatible with all commercially available stent-grafts.

Nov. 11, 2005 — New findings from Lux Research Inc. say that trends in Chinese nanotech research have set the world’s largest nation on a course to challenge dominant nanotech players like the U.S., Japan, and Germany.

The company says that China’s nanotech efforts would have broad-reaching implications for issues including energy independence, military capabilities, and development of the domestic high-tech sector.

In particular, it found that China’s share of academic publications on nanoscale science and engineering topics rose from 7.5 percent in 1995 to 18.3 percent in 2004, taking the country from fifth to second in the world.

In addition, it found that on an absolute basis, China’s estimated government nanotechnology spending of $250 million in 2005 lags countries like Germany and Japan. But when adjusted for purchasing-power parity — which takes account of China’s far lower infrastructure and labor costs — its spending is second only to the U.S.

Furthermore, the company found that, whereas advanced applications were lacking, the nation was a leader in incorporating nanoparticle-enabled coatings and composite materials into commercial products.

Nov. 11, 2005 – Harris & Harris Group, Inc. announced that it has invested $3 million in privately held Kovio Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif.

Kovio is developing semiconductor products using thin film technologies, printed electronics and nanoparticle inks. Harris & Harris is a publicly traded venture capital company that now makes initial investments exclusively in nanotechnology, microsystems and MEMS companies.

Nov. 11, 2005 — FEI Co. announced that Ohio State University’s Center for Accelerated Maturation of Materials (CAMM) has become the first North American site to install and begin using its new scanning/transmission electron (S/TEM) microscope, the FEI Titan 80-300.

The new system, which yields sub-Angstrom imaging and analysis capabilities, is expected to enhance researchers’ abilities to make new discoveries on the structure-property relationships of a wide spectrum of materials.

Nov. 11, 2005 — SUSS MicroTec announced that Purdue University has purchased a SUSS SB6e Substrate Bonder and a MA/BA6, Mask/Bond Aligner for use in Purdue’s new Birck Nanotechnology Center.

SUSS says the SB6e is capable of up to 1 micron post bond alignment and with its precisely controlled bond chamber atmosphere is intended to allow for superior performance and yields. The MA/BA6 tool is a high precision front to backside alignment tool.

Purdue dedicated the 187,000-square-foot Birck center building on October 8, with the goal of positioning the institution as a leader in nanotechnology studies. This facility provides laboratory environments and scientific equipment for nanoscale research that will be used by over 130 faculty and students from 27 departments.

Nov. 10, 2005 – Dendritic Nanotechnologies and Lumera announced that they have entered into a joint research agreement to co-develop proprietary surface chemistries suitable for specific applications of Lumera’s label-free array reader, ProteomicProcessor.

Dendritic is a Mount Pleasant, Mich., company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of dendrimer technologies to create new of products for the identification and treatment of human diseases. Lumera Corp. is a Bothell, Wash., firm that designs proprietary molecular structures and polymer compounds for the bioscience and communications and computing industries. The company also has developed proprietary processes for fabricating such devices.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dendritic will build chemistries on proprietary Lumera surfaces, focusing efforts on using their expertise and patent holdings in the area of dendrimers. Lumera will use their proprietary instrument designs and biological systems to test and evaluate the dendrimer-based approaches. The companies expect to find performance features and benefits for proteomic applications.

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Nov. 9, 2005 – Nanosys Inc., a privately held company focused on developing nanotechnology-enabled products, announced that it has raised approximately $40 million in a private equity financing.

The round was led by El Dorado Ventures and includes new investors Masters Capital, Medtronic Inc., Wasatch Advisors and others. In addition, previous investors who participated include Alexandria Equities, ARCH Venture Partners, CDIB BioScience Ventures, CW Group, Harris & Harris Group Inc., In-Q-Tel, Intel Capital, H.B. Fuller Company, Lux Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, Prospect Venture Partners, UOB Hermes Asia Technology Fund, and Venrock Associates.

The company said it would use the funding for the ongoing development and manufacturing scale-up of products that incorporate its proprietary, inorganic nanostructures with integrated functionality for multiple industries. Current product development programs include chemical analysis chips for pharmaceutical drug research, fuel cells for portable electronics, nanostructures for displays and phased array antennas, non-volatile memory for electronic devices and solid-state lighting products.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company previously raised a $38 million round in 2003, a $15 million round in 2002, and a $1.7 million round in 2001. In addition, the company has secured tens of millions of dollars in non-equity grants and contracts and has a variety of ongoing joint development projects. Most recently, Nanosys began working with Sharp Corp. of Osaka, Japan, on nanotech-enabled displays. In 2004, the company registered to conduct an initial public offering of stock on the Nasdaq market but pulled the IPO in August when the market experienced a downturn.

Nov. 9, 2005 – Motorola Inc. said its equity investment division Motorola Ventures made an investment in Tekion Inc., which develops micro fuel cells for mobile products. Financial details were not disclosed.

Tekion is currently working on the Formira Power Pack, which is designed to fit inside mobile products and allow users to stay connected for as long as needed. Motorola said the technology works with portable electronics with a power range of milliwatts to 50 watts and energy range of 10 to 100 watt-hours. A number of products fall within these ranges, including industrial handheld computers, satellite communication devices, and notebook computers.