Canadian Investors Support UCC Spin-Out Company

At the InfiniLED investment launch event, Minister Seán Sherlock TD, Najeeb Khalid, Principal at IL Investments and Joe O’Keeffe, CEO of InfiniLED.

At the InfiniLED investment launch event, Minister Seán Sherlock TD, Najeeb Khalid, Principal at IL Investments and Joe O’Keeffe, CEO of InfiniLED.

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InfiniLED, a Tyndall National Institute, UCC spin-out has just closed the first investment round worth approx €1.6m, led by IL Investment Group from Canada.

The total investment may reach up to €1.6million, which includes support from Enterprise Ireland. It will immediately result in the formation of eight new high-tech positions at InfiniLED with up to 16 staff targeted before the end of 2013. All these positions are at a graduate level including a significant number of PhD graduates to support the on-going development. The investment will allow infiniLED to continue the development of its technology and enable it to further grow the commercial interest that has already been generated.

 “IL Investment is delighted to be partnering with InfiniLED on this project.” said Najeeb Khalid, a principle at IL Investment. “We believe this investment will enable InfiniLED to grow and deliver on its significant commercial potential. We have been very impressed by the team assembled and the work carried out to date with the µLEDs. The team behind IL Investment has a history of the successful growth of high technology companies. With InfiniLED we see the opportunity to continue this and bring exciting new products to the market.” added Mr Khalid.

Speaking at the announcement event, Seán Sherlock TD, Minister for Research and Innovation said: “The Government’s Action Plan for Jobs clearly sets out the importance of targeting and supporting areas of research with strong potential for commercialisation and job creation. The ability of new high potential start-up companies like InfiniLED to attract investment and create hi-tech jobs is vital for the growth and development of our indigenous knowledge economy.

“The technology that underpins InfiniLED was supported byEnterpriseIrelandfunding during its development. This investment is an endorsement of that support. The progress of InfiniLED also provides an excellent example of the route of research from the laboratory to the market. It provides a strong model for others to follow in the future.” added Minister Sherlock.   

InfiniLED is an Enterprise Ireland supported spin-out company from the Tyndall National Institute and University College Cork. It develops a range of LED light source modules based on its patented µLED (microLED) technology which it has licensed from Tyndall. InfiniLED has a number of on-going development contracts with international customers. It is aiming to bring the first µLED-based products to the market before the end of 2012. The areas of application for InfiniLED technology range from diagnostic testing devices to consumer products. 

“The µLED technology offers a range of benefits to our customers. It can reduce power consumption in displays which results in increased battery life for devices such as mobile phones, laptops or other consumer products. It enables new medical devices which are smaller, more efficient and more accurate. The technology can also be used in individually switchable arrays. This allows their use for faster LED printing, microscopy and lithography applications. Essentially, any product that requires controlled or the efficient use of light may benefit from this unique technology.” added Joe O’Keeffe, CEO of InfiniLED.

 “This is an excellent example of a successful collaboration between researchers, UCC’s  Technology Transfer team and external entrepreneurs. InfiniLED will continue to access our facilities and expertise in the further development of the µLED technology under an access agreement between InfiniLED and Tyndall”, explained Dr. Alastair Glass, Chairman, Tyndall National Institute.

 The micro-LED technology was invented by a team of researchers led by Mr. Brian Corbett at Tyndall National Institute, supported and funded by Enterprise Ireland. Under the Enterprise Ireland Business Partner Programme, Entrepreneur Joe O’Keeffe, who has already spun out a series of successful companies, evaluated the commercial potential of the µLED. InfiniLED was launched in April 2011 and was co-founded by Dr Bill Henry. He had worked on the development of the technology and the commercial opportunities while  at Tyndall. The securing of this investment marks the next step in moving this world-class Irish research from the lab into the market place. It will allow InfiniLED to build its team, to ramp-up development of the technology and to target new opportunities.   

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