Cambrios Raises $14.5M

Cambrios Technologies, a developer of transparent conductive film for thin-film solar panels, has raised $14.5 million.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said the D round came from its existing investors such as Arch Venture Partners, Alloy Ventures and Oxford Bioscience Partners.

Three companies that Cambrios does business with – Sumitomo, Chisso and Nissha Printing – also put in some money, Cambrios said Wednesday.

Cambrios is a nanotech startup whose first product, called ClearOhm, is a coating material that can be used for making liquid-crystal display screens, light-emitting diodes and solar thin films. The company's key customers are mostly in the consumer electronics industry at the moment.

Cambrios develops products for Chisso to make LCD panels, for example. Cambrios has a development agreement with Nissha to use ClearOhm for making touch screens.

In solar, a transparent conductive oxide, such a zinc oxide or indium-tin oxide, is layered on solar cells to act as electrodes. Cambrios said its coating could replace those more common oxides to boost performance.