KNOXVILLE, TN—Innovation Valley Partners (IVP) and its affiliate fund, Princeton, N.J.-based Battelle Ventures, have committed a combined $8 million in start-up financing to three energy-related companies. Knoxville-based Aldis and Ampulse and Orlando’s Planar, all of which have ties to National laboratories, received funding.
Aldis a company selling energy-saving LED traffic lights and developing a system allowing the lights to automatically change depending on traffic conditions, received $3.775 million. Aldis has a joint development agreement with Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL).
IVP General Partner Glenn Kline will serve as chair of Aldis with company co-founders James Sherrill and Bill Malkes, and Battelle Ventures General Partner Kef Kasdin also on the board.
Ampulse, which is in the earliest stage of the three companies, operating as a “virtual company” out of the IVP office in Knoxville, with Kline as acting CEO, received $1 million in pre-seed funding.
Getting inside ORNL
The third company, said Kline, is Orlando, Fla.-based Planar Energy Devices (Planar), a power-storage company developing thin-film batteries that is a spinout of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in Golden, Colo. In addition to its being an NREL licensee, Kline noted, Planar also is a licensee of ORNL technology.
Planar, he added, received $1.3 million in Series A financing, with another $2.7 million committed, based on milestones achieved. Kline and Kasdin also sit on the Planar Board, along with company CEO Scott Faris, he said.
“We have been increasingly involved in the Knoxville area, participating in local business activities, networking with people involved in local entrepreneurial ventures and really getting inside ORNL,” said Kline.
IVP active locally
“We had previously invested in two ORNL-related companies with local connections: Multispectral Imaging Inc., a developer of low-cost, high-performance infrared detectors, and SmartSynch, a provider of smart-metering solutions for energy and utility companies,” he explained.
“But these new investments best illustrate the positive results of our activity,” Kline continued.
“We are building three companies that will commercialize ORNL technologies and, in the case of Aldis, have taken local Knoxville entrepreneurs to the Lab to help build out their technology.”
IVP helped to organize the recent TN Valley Venture Forum and ORNL’s NanoNexus conference, and IVP Partner Kline is teaching courses in the University of Tennessee’s MBA program.
“The funds’ general partners provide the tech community at large with a bridge into Lab research and technology,” said Casey Porto, director, ORNL Technology Transfer.
“At the same time, they provide qualified input to the Lab about the technology/entrepreneurial community, which adds significant value to us in terms of our licensing activities,” she said, noting that ORNL has an extremely close working relationship with Kline, who spends several days a week at the Lab.
Tech originally used for different purpose
Porto said that Aldis, which is targeting the $6.9-billion traffic-signal, management and maintenance segment of the $104-billion U.S. highway transportation market, “is a great example of leveraging technology at ORNL with growth companies.
“We were able to identify a team at ORNL that had completed considerable work on vision stabilization,” she said.
The vision stabilization helps keep the image stable on cameras used in the system, which are often attached to traffic light that sways in the wind.
“While this work was initially done for veterinary applications, it actually turned out to be extremely applicable to Aldis’s objectives,” she continued. “But without the deep relationship we have with the funds, I’m doubtful that the connection would ever have been made.”
Added Aldis Cofounder and CEO James “Vig” Sherrill, a serial entrepreneur who has led several successful technology companies: “Understanding vision technology, digital signal processing, artificial intelligence and manufacturing, we were confident that we could vastly improve on the current technology, which has changed little in 40 years.
Move to LED saves energy
Deployment of The Aldis Advantage Program, an initial offering that involves converting incandescent signals to our proprietary Aldis Eye signals, is already under way in four local municipalities.”
“Going from incandescent to LED signals,” said Sherrill, “not only yields ongoing savings on maintenance costs, but also increases energy efficiency and reduces carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere.”
But maximum value of having Aldis Eye signals operational will be realized early next year, said Meritus Ventures’ fund co-manager Grady Vanderhoofven, when Aldis plans to introduce The Guardian Eye, a vision-based traffic monitoring and control system designed further improve energy efficiency and alleviate traffic backups experienced daily at poorly functioning intersections.
See also TechJournal South’s separate story on Planar today, which includes an exclusive interview with the investors and the Planar CEO.
Innovation Valley Partners (IVP) is the $35-million affiliate fund of Battelle Ventures, L.P., a $220-million national fund that invests in early-stage technology companies nationwide, in the areas of energy & environment, security and health & life science.
On the Web: www.innovationvalleypartners.com
Southeast Venture Conference, February 29 – March 1, 2012 at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner, VA – Where Smart Money Meets Smart People.
www.seventure.org
© 2007, TechJournal South. All rights reserved.
