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Sydney, May 23, 2008 (ABN Newswire) - BT Imaging Pty Ltd., a global supplier of inspection tools for solar cell manufacturing, announced today that it has closed a A$3M Series A financing. The round was led by Allen & Buckeridge Venture Capital with participation from UniSeed.
"BT Imaging in a very short period of operations has built an enviable base of top tier partners and customers. The company is well positioned to benefit from the boom in solar cell manufacturing," said David Landers, Partner, Allen & Buckeridge. "With the exceptional benefits that BT Imaging's tools bring to solar cell manufacturers we believe the company will become a major player in the solar manufacturing supply chain."
"The expansion of the photovoltaic market is happening right now. We are seeing a clear demand for our inspection tools by solar cell manufacturers as the next step in the increasing sophistication of manufacturing technologies in this industry. Our technology allows manufacturers to extract more value from their investments in manufacturing plant, by increasing the electrical efficiency, and hence the value, of their product, as well as reducing the instances of reject product," said Dr Ian Maxwell, CEO of BT Imaging. "This round of financing allows us to properly position BT Imaging in a market that is now recognizing the value of inline quality control. BT Imaging will continue to grow its LIS(TM) product range. The Series A financing will also support our ongoing market expansion, particularly across Europe and Asia."
The current high growth in the world-wide photovoltaics market is projected to continue. By 2010 it is expected that annual solar cell manufacturing capacity will be at least 10GW production capacity and potentially up to 20GW. For the most common (multicrystalline) type of solar cells, the fully loaded solar module costs (as installed) will drop by 50% between today and 2012. In many places this will mean that solar energy will be at grid parity with today's forms of energy generation.
With strong acceptance from leading manufacturers of solar cells and silicon wafers, BT Imaging will use this round of financing to enhance its operational growth, expand its market coverage and deliver new product and product enhancements while continuing to work with leading partners to meet the needs of their rapidly expanding manufacturing base.
ABOUT BT IMAGING PTY LTD
BT Imaging (www.btimaging.com) is an Australian-based supplier of Luminescence Imaging Systems for use in research, product and process development, inline manufacturing inspection, and quality control of silicon wafers, photovoltaic cells and photovoltaic modules. BT Imaging designs and develops its Luminescence Imaging Systems for the photovoltaic manufacturing industry. Originally developed at the world-leading Centre of Excellence for Advanced Silicon Photovoltaics and Photonics at the University of New South Wales, BT Imaging's patented technology uniquely allows real time electronic inspection of every wafer or solar cell processed through a manufacturing line. BT Imaging has recently released its first product, the LIS-R1, which is entering into beta trials with a select group of global manufacturing leaders of silicon wafer and solar cell. BT Imaging plans to release a number of inline inspection tools over the next 24 months, each aimed at improving the bottom line for its customers.
ABOUT ALLEN & BUCKERIDGE
Allen & Buckeridge (www.a-b.com.au) is a Sydney-based venture capital firm dedicated to investing in and helping build global companies of significant and lasting value. Allen & Buckeridge focuses on early and expansion-stage investing in the Australia and Asia-Pacific regions. Examples of these include: enterprise software and services, communications & security, semiconductors and wireless applications. Investments range in size from as little as $100,000 to as much as $10 or $15 million. Allen & Buckeridge currently manages approximately $280 million spread across several funds. Allen & Buckeridge's investors include some of the largest superannuation funds and institutions in Australia as well as strategic overseas corporations such as IBM. Since their inception in 1996, Allen & Buckeridge have invested in over 45 technology companies, a number of which have since been listed on public markets or sold in successful trade sales.
ABOUT UNISEED Uniseed (www.uniseed.com) is a $61m joint venture pre-seed and seed stage venture capital fund, with the aim to successfully commercialise the outcomes of Australian research and ingenuity from the University of Queensland, the University of Melbourne and the University of New South Wales. Uniseed makes targeted investments at the earliest stages of a venture's formation and manages the development of research and ingenuity-based ventures to the point where they can secure substantial further investment from the investment community. It represents an important step in forging a link between academia and business that focuses on the commercialisation of innovative ideas and inventions for global consumption.
Media contact: Linda Koschier BT Imaging Pty Ltd Tel: +61 423 464 223 Email: linda.koschier@btimaging.com
