Peak Nanosystems in Valley View, Ohio, has raised $25 million to increase the production of its specialized optical lenses and films.
Peak, which is a commercialization engine for nanotechnology, raised the investment from Squadron Capital, the private equity firm in Hong Kong, the company said in a press release.
Peak will use the money to support larger-scale production of optical lenses and further development of capacitors and specialty films at its Peak Nano Optics and Peak Nano Films businesses, the parent company said.
In 2016, Peak Nanosystems began commercializing gradient-index optics, made by stacking hundreds of layers of thin polymer films to yield lenses and other products that cause less optical distortion and are much smaller and lighter than glass-based products, the company said.
Working with PolymerPlus, a Valley View company it has since acquired, Peak developed the gradient-index (GRIN) optics technology for military applications, including triple-lens scopes for rifles.
Now, the company is developing nanolayer films that can be used to lighten and increase the performance of industrial batteries.
"We have broadened the impact of that investment into our Peak Nano Films entity which gets us into high-performance films markets," said Jim Welsh, CEO of Peak Nanosystems, in his company's release.
"This additional capital will allow us to scale the technology to fully realize the potential of the nanolayer technology across many market segments," Welsh said.
Peak Nano Optics has invested more than $30 million in its development and production facility in Valley View, which it calls an "optics foundry." The facility opened at the end of 2020, the parent company said.
Peak Nano Films also has made significant investments to scale up its nanolayer technology in capacitor films, the company said.
Peak expects to have more opportunities to create specialty films using recycled materials, said Chad Lewis, president of Peak Nanosystems, in the release.
