Sparks tech firm lands big bucks for its tiny air sensors
By: Northern Nevada Business Weekly
Below is an excerpt from the Northern Nevada Business Weekly article about Nevada Nanotech Systems Inc.:
Sparks-based Nevada Nanotech Systems Inc., a developer of digital-based vapor detection devices, has millions in new funding to advance its work.
NevadaNano announced last week it has raised $18 million in Series B Funding, led by Ray Stata, chairman of Analog Devices, Inc., and other investors. That follows NevadaNano’s original $1.5 million in Series A financing.
For the 40-employee company, the new money will mean five to 10 additional employees and accelerate the market launch for its tiny sensors — small enough to fit in the palm of the hand — that can be used in homes, businesses and the outdoor environment.
“Our goal is, we want to repair a dent in the world — 6.5 million people die from air pollution every year and many more are impaired,” Ralph Whitten, president of NevadaNano, told more than 30 business leaders and others at a reception in the company offices on Greg Street in Sparks.
“These funds will go directly to commercialize our technology,” Whitten said, and at a low cost.
“That’s the missing piece: a low-cost measurement system,” he said. “We enable the Internet to smell in a scientific way. We can identify cancer-causing elements in our homes.”
In a statement, Stata said, “Gas sensing for Internet of Things networks is a multibillion-dollar market waiting for a solution.
The need for better sensors that can be distributed in our homes, offices and outdoors to monitor our exposure to hazardous gases and enable us to take action to protect our health is a worldwide problem.”
