Philips spin out attracts €12 million in first-round funding

First-round funding

Liquavista BV, a fabless display manufacturing company, raised €12 million in a first round funding led by Amadeus Capital Partners and GIMV, the leading Benelux-based private equity and venture firm. New Venture Partners, which led the spin out of Liquavista from Philips Research in April this year, followed on.

Liquavista has developed an electro-wetting technology for the screens of mobile devices, which provide the same picture and colour quality as current LCD screens, while also addressing their two main problems: poor readability in bright light, and high power consumption, which drains batteries quickly.  

The company’s displays are reflective rather than transmissive, and so offer the potential for clear viewing in all lighting conditions, from a dimly lit office environment to the bright light of a sunny day, while consuming a tenth of the power of similar-sized LCD screens.  

Products for which the technology offers improvements range from watches, mobile phones and digital cameras to ATM screens and large flat panels.

Mark Gostick, CEO said, “Liquavista made a significant impact on the display industry when we launched this year. With the addition of two more Tier 1 investors to our shareholder base, we have the funding to increase our speed to market by getting our production partners up and running and allowing us to make our first customer deliveries.”