Pixelligent Leverages IP to Raise $38 Million for Accelerated Commercialization by 2023 - citybiz

Pixelligent Technologies has raised $38 million successful maturation superior connected the spot of its intelligence spot assets, which assistance it make a acceptable of artificial metallic oxide materials with precocious usage cases successful modern applications specified arsenic augmented reality, virtual world and 5G.

New York-based MVolution Partners, whose cofounder Michael Weinmann is simply a Johns Hopkins alum, provided the non-dilutive funding, with security and valuation services from Aon.

“It’s a tremendous validation of our exertion and a tribute to our unthinkable team,” CEO Craig Bandes, who has led the Baltimore-based Pixelligent since 2009, said successful a LinkedIn post. “Thanks to Pixelligent’s award-winning manufacturing platform, astir 90 patents, and dozens of commercialized secrets, we were capable to unafraid charismatic indebtedness financing astatine a pivotal infinitesimal successful Pixelligent’s maturation trajectory,” helium said successful a release.

Pixelligent, which has antecedently raised astir $45 cardinal successful equity backing from investors including The Abell Foundation, expects to usage the funds to bring “numerous mass-production applications to marketplace successful 2023 and beyond.”

“Innovation is simply a captious constituent for the maturation economy, but intelligence spot is its foundation,” said Lewis Lee, CEO of Aon’s Intellectual Property Solutions.

Finance Mavens

MVolution Partners, established successful 2021, provides maturation superior solutions — some equity and indebtedness — from $1 cardinal to $100 cardinal to healthcare and exertion companies. Mike Weinmann, who studied engineering astatine Johns Hopkins, and erstwhile Morgan Stanley enforcement Vincent Van Heyste service arsenic founding partners. Weinmann and Van Heyste worked unneurotic astatine Morgan Stanley. Both lived successful Europe for a fig of years.

Van Heyste served successful Morgan Stanley’s European M&A team, too moving his household businesses successful hose catering and existent property business, gathering beachfront residences successful Seychelles. He besides spent 3 years arsenic a non-executive committee manager and subordinate of the hazard and recognition committee of Nouvobanq, Seychelles’ largest bank. Van Heyste besides served arsenic the main operating serviceman of the portfolio squad astatine HgCapital, a European software-focused middle-market backstage equity firm.

Weinmann has 22 years of acquisition managing backstage concern funds and has been progressive successful deals worthy $3.6 billion. For implicit a decade, helium was a spouse and concern committee subordinate of CRG, a healthcare concern firm. Prior to CRG, Weinmann worked successful Morgan Stanley’s Global Capital Markets division, specializing successful indebtedness financing and monetization of IP.

Pixelligent’s Board Members

Pixelligent’s committee members see Eileen M. O’Rourke, treasurer of The Abell Foundation and main operating serviceman of OTEC International, and Andrew Ray, an M&A expert. O’Rourke is simply a 30-year manufacture seasoned with implicit a decade’s acquisition successful innovative financing and successful managing nonstop investments successful early-stage companies. Ray led a squad that represented Oculus VR successful its $2 cardinal merchantability to Facebook, which was rated the M&A Deal of the Year successful 2014 by M&A Advisor.

Early Backer

Abell Foundation was among the aboriginal investors successful Pixelligent. In enactment with its semipermanent extremity of advancing Baltimore’s growth, the instauration not lone makes philanthropic grants but besides makes nonstop investments successful innovative startups that make jobs and beforehand the city’s growth. Currently, its portfolio of startups includes implicit 30 firms, including Armr, Crystalline Medical and Vita Therapeutics. Its caller investments see SIMPLi, ReGelTec, Spine Align and NextStep Robotics

‘Designer Compounds’

Craig Bandes has piloted Pixelligent for the past 13 years, plotting its people successful precocious technology, processing of a scope of products and winning U.S. grants worthy implicit $20 cardinal from the Departments of Defense and Energy.

Pixelligent archetypal built exertion to manufacture artificial equivalents of a wide acceptable of metallic oxide materials recovered successful nature. It past leveraged that exertion to make “designer compounds” with desired qualities and unsocial applications. Its PixClear, PixNIL and PixJet scope of products are high-refractive scale formulations and materials that tin beryllium leveraged for usage successful precocious electronics products, specified arsenic AR/MR devices, OLED/Mini and MicroLED displays, optical/Lidar sensors and concern applications. Each sets antithetic show standards successful presumption of brightness, clarity, operating efficiencies, and device-lifetime.

Its materials, for example, supply the widest tract of presumption successful AR and VR, Pixelligent claims. In OLED and microLED applications, its products importantly summation airy output and show efficiency, portion successful optical sensor applications, the company’s materials alteration aggregate signifier factors.

Pixelligent operates a 18,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art aviator manufacturing and laboratory installation successful Baltimore, and income offices successful the Republic of Korea and Taiwan. In 2017, helium was recognized arsenic the Manufacturer of the Year by the Frost & Sullivan Manufacturing Leadership Council.

Prior to Pixelligent, Bandes was the president and CEO of Global Secure Corp., a high-tech institution focused connected homeland information solutions. He chairs the Technology Committee for the Greater Baltimore Committee, and is simply a subordinate of the NanoBusiness Allliance Advisory Board. Bandes has degrees successful concern and entrepreneurship from Babson College.