ST supports Nanoco as quantum dot firm sues Samsung
The value of the agreement was not disclosed but was described as “significant” to Nanoco Group plc (Manchester, England). The company made a loss before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of £1.1 million on revenue of £2.9 million in the first half of the fiscal year to January 31, 2020. Nanoco said the agreement would support a cash “runway” through to 2Q21 at least.
The company has also revealed it has filed a legal suit against Samsung Electronics claiming the Korean consumer electronics giant is infringing Nanoco patents.
In its latest financial results Nanoco revealed that its monthly cash burn was £700,000 (about US$890,000) at the end of the first half of the financial year and that this reduced to £400,000 per month (about US$500,000) after the addition of certain measures including UK government furlough support. This suggests the value of the deal with ST must be worth at least a few millions of dollars.
The ST agreement covers both development work and commercial supply of nano-materials for use in various infrared sensing applications over an initial five-year period. It is an extension of an agreement that was in place while Nanoco and ST worked with a “mutual significant US customer,” Nanoco said.
Whoever the customer was, the contract was completed and all deliverables paid for in the first half of the fiscal year.
ST has now provided orders for development work on material for a new application and small-scale volumes of an existing material have already been sent by Nanoco. The first phase of the development work which started in April is scheduled to last until December 2020, Nanoco said.
Nanoco had embarked on process of trying to sell the company but discussions were disrupted by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and so the company has terminated the formal sale process. Nanoco is now conducting a strategic review of the company and actions may include looking for medium-term sources of funding.
Next: What the CEO says
Michael Edelman, CEO of Nanoco, also revealed that Nanoco has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung Electronics, seeking an injunction against further infringement and significant monetary damages.
“We have received a number of offers of third-party funding for the lawsuit and are now discussing the final terms of a litigation financing agreement. Once agreed, this will protect the group’s cash resources and decouple the funding of the lawsuit from the group’s financial position,” Edelman said in a statement issued on April 30.
On the announcement of the deal with ST Edelman said: “We are very pleased with this latest development in our collaboration with ST. Both companies have been working actively to generate value from our previous two years of investments in developing new materials, devices, and mass production capabilities for use in infrared sensing. The Agreement now enables us find new routes to market in the short term, and potential new applications in the medium term.”
He added: “ST’s deep knowledge of the sensing markets and multiple potential applications and customers makes them an ideal strategic customer for Nanoco. Nanoco’s materials deliver a very significant performance enhancement to ST’s silicon based infra-red sensors. A medium-term roadmap to commercial production volumes, enabled by our newly developed materials, is taking shape. This will allow us to leverage the value from our recent investment in our new Runcorn electronics materials production facility.”
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