poLight raises $20 mln

 

Norway’s poLight has raised $20 million as it seeks commercial breakthrough of its mobile phone autofocus lens.

The private placement attracted several established leading Norwegian and international institutional investors, and it valued the firm at $74 million.

The company has raised a total of $60.4 million, and it aims to go public in the near future. “poLight aims to complete an IPO within one year,” the firm said.

poLight’s technology is based on proprietary and patented methods for creating active optical components based on deformable polymers. It is working on the world’s fastest, smallest and most cost-efficient autofocus lens for cellphone cameras.

“Over the past 18 months, poLight has been able to significantly mature its technology and have brought a commercial breakthrough for the company’s autofocus lens closer,” the company said.

“We have received very positive feedback on our story, as well as on our progress over the past couple of years. This private placement enables us to accelerate our commercial efforts, while simultaneously increase efforts to further develop our unique technology,” Øyvind Isaksen, CEO of poLight, said in a statement.

Current shareholders, including, among others, Investinor, Viking Venture, and Swedish Industrifonden, account for approximately one third of the private placement.

In cooperation with STMicroelectronics and THEIL, the company’s assembly partner in Taiwan, the production of the first product, TLens Silver, has been qualified.

“The priorities going forward will be to ramp up production and secure the first customer. poLight is in dialog with several potential customers, and several processes to qualify the company’s technology are ongoing,” the firm said.