Techno-Vision - Crystal clear vision of the future

Sep 14 2006 By Howard Walker, North East Vision

A company spun out of Durham University is now looking to raise more funds to finance its pioneering hi-tech products. Howard Walker looks at the continued ambitions of Durham Scientific Crystals.

Many companies who had succeeded in getting £1m-worth of backing for their technology would be content to sit back and bask in the glory. Not so Durham Scientific Crystals.

The three-year-old company is already plotting a course to raise a further £2m for expansion less than a year after US technology investor Amphion Innovations put up £1m for a 28% stake in the business, which produces innovative semiconductor materials used in a wide range of detector machines.

The company, which was spun out of Durham University in 2003, made its move earlier this year after winning a European tender for a £680,000 contract to provide components for radiation detection.

DSC, which is on track to generate £200,000 of sales this year, will commit two full-time staff members to the three-year contract with One NorthEast's Centre of Excellence for Nano, Micro and Photonics Systems (CENAMPS).

And it also now plans to raise £2m from private investors to develop and bring to market a series of "second generation" products.

The capital-raising follows a £1m injection by Amphion Innovations in September last year.

Arnab Basu, chief executive of DSC, said: "We have started talking to investors including Amphion and hope we can push on with the raising of that money.

"We have kept it fairly general but with the second generation technology we are talking about value-added products based on current technology.

"At the moment, we do not want to say much about it other than it will be directed towards adding value to our existing products."

DSC produces specialist semi-conductor materials in a single crystal form, which are used in a variety of ways, including infra-red detectors for military and civilian use, medical imaging and security screening.

It has already attracted attention from high-profile clients including the European Space Agency, BAE Systems and Philips and in the last four months has secured patents for four new products.

DSC has also picked up its fair share of awards, clinching the Innovation Award in the North East Business Awards 2005 and the Technology Award in the 2004 Awards.

Mr Basu was also one of the stars in the `Passionate People, Passionate Places' regional image campaign from regional development agency One NorthEast.

The CENAMPS contract is part of an expansion drive that will see DSC double staff numbers at its headquarters at Sedgefield's NetPark to a dozen within 12 months.

Dr Basu said DSC would also look to enter into more partnership and licensing agreements with international companies in its field.

He said: "We will look at doing more development work with third party partners in the next 12 to 24 months which could lead to further third party investment".

Jerel Whittingham, managing director at Amphion UK, said: "Winning this CENAMPS development contract is a useful enhancement to the substantial private equity we have already invested in DSC and a catalyst to the further investment that we and our investment partners intend to make in the company."