Turquoise, the UK merchant bank specialising in climate technologies, has announced a follow-on investment by Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 (LCIF2) in Kubos Semiconductors. This forms part of a capital raising round of over £0.5 million in which a mixture of existing and new investors participated.
Kubos is developing high-end, scalable, and highly efficient LED technology which fundamentally overcomes the ‘green gap’ problem where the efficiency of conventional LEDs is significantly reduced.
Desmond Astley-Cooper, director at Turquoise, commented: “My colleagues and I are pleased to be involved with such an exciting new materials technology with many uses, including small form-factor LED devices in the future.”
Caroline O’Brien, CEO of Kubos, added: “We are delighted to have secured the continuing support of LCIF2 and our other shareholders and welcomed some new investors as we progress towards our technical and commercial goals. We are also excited about the prospect of exploiting our technology’s capabilities in new markets such as improving the efficiency of native red microLEDs for AR/VR and displays and providing high switching speed LEDs for visible light communications applications.”
LCIF2 is funded by European Regional Development Fund, with the UK’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities as the Managing Authority.
For more information please visit www.Kubos-Semi.com, www.LCIF.vc and www.Turquoise.eu.
Notes:
Founded in Cambridge in 2017, as a university spin-out, to develop and commercialise its proprietary cubic GaN IP through the development of LEDs, Kubos employs a fab-less semiconductor model. It is developing devices on a standard silicon wafer platform using conventional production equipment making the technology readily scalable and fully compatible with large area, low-cost manufacturing. In February 2021, Kubos announced the first commercially compatible LEDs based on the cubic crystal phase of GaN. Kubos plans to license its technology to major manufacturers for LED and microLED applications, including lighting, displays, AR/VR, communications, automotive and horticulture.
LCIF2 is managed by Turquoise and is a venture capital fund investing in eligible small to medium sized businesses based in England, particularly the areas covered by its local government backers, developing products and services which will have a beneficial environmental impact.
LCIF2 is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), following a successful bid by Norfolk County Council and the University of East Anglia. ERDF is an investment programme part financed by the European Union. LCIF2 is part of the UK government’s portfolio of business support products.
LCIF2 has received £10.9m (for co-investment alongside private monies) from the European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is the Managing Authority for this funding. Established by the European Union, the ERDF helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit www.gov.uk /European-growth-funding.
ENDS