Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: TenasiTech secures investment to ‘toughen up’ acrylic glass

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Abstract:
TenasiTech Pty Ltd is pleased to announce that it has secured almost a million dollars in investment to drive the commercialisation of its range of plastics nanoadditive products. A consortia of Angels from the Australian groups, Brisbane Angels and Melbourne Angels, have committed AU$485,000 in equity capital, and original investor, Uniseed, has committed with another AU$450,000.

TenasiTech secures investment to ‘toughen up’ acrylic glass

Boston, MA | Posted on May 1st, 2014

TenasiTech CEO, Richard Marshall, said "We are thrilled with the continued support from Uniseed, and the show of commitment from our new investors drawn from the Brisbane and Melbourne angel investor community."

"One of our products solves the issue of surface scratching for acrylic glass (sometimes known as Plexiglas®). The poor scratch resistance of acrylic glass is a key barrier to the more widespread replacement of traditional glass. Our nanoadditive products allow our customers to design plastic sheets, and other parts, which are more durable as they are less prone to surface defects when handled. The uses include for car interiors, glossy panels for kitchen doors and stair handrails. And the acrylic glass market is very large - in the order of $6B globally - so our investors are attracted to the commercial potential for our technology."

TenasiTech Chairman, Dr David Evans, said "TenasiTech has products in multiple polymer families including acrylic glass and polyurethane elastomers. So our products work in both the ‘soft-and-stretchy' types, as well as the 'hard-and-clear' thermoplastics such as acrylic glass. We work with global market leaders in each application area - our strategy is to work with companies who are top five in their respective markets, regardless of their geographic location".

The additive technology originates from research of Professor Darren Martin at The University of Queensland, who continues to be active with the company as its Chief Scientist. The technology was licensed to TenasiTech in 2007 by UniQuest, The University of Queensland's main commercialisation company. The company subsequently received seed funding from Uniseed and has been the recipient of grant funding with COMET and Commercialisation Australia from the Federal Government. In addition the company was a grant recipient under the Queensland Government's Research Partnerships Program, which helped TenasiTech establish a prototype production facility in Brisbane in 2013.

The company owns and controls a number of patent applications. Its founding patent applications have progressed through to grant in key markets. Additional patent applications were in-licensed by TenasiTech in 2013 and continue to progress in several of the major markets for plastics additives.

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About TenasiTech Pty Ltd
TenasiTech is a materials company which allow plastics to perform at levels not thought possible – at industrial cost – selling nanotechnology additives. One product doubles the scratch resistance of acrylic sheets and molded products (PMMA). Unlike competitors, we allow users to reshape the resulting acrylic. We also sell a product range, our Adaptive Polyols™, to improve thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs), specifically toughness or operating temperature. These improvements are made with no trade-off in the material’s clarity or flexibility. TenasiTech has operations in Boston, USA and Brisbane, Australia, and has manufacturing capability in the USA, Germany and Australia. The underlying patented technology was developed at The University of Queensland and was licensed from UniQuest, the main technology transfer company at The University of Queensland, to TenasiTech in 2007.

About Brisbane Angels www.brisbaneangels.com.au

Brisbane Angels is a group of private investors who actively invest in early stage companies in the material sciences, food tech, clean tech, IT and life sciences sectors. Brisbane Angels provides emerging companies with seed and start-up capital through direct investment as well as offering introductions to valuable contacts essential to a young company's success. To date in the current financial year (9 months) Brisbane Angels has made 12 transactions for a total of $2.29 Million.

About Melbourne Angels www.melbourneangels.net

Melbourne Angels is a group of private investors who actively invest in early stage technology companies. Melbourne Angels provides start-up capital as well as strategic guidance, mentoring and introductions to help accelerate company growth.

About Uniseed www.uniseed.com

Uniseed is a $61 million commercialisation fund operating at the Universities of Queensland, New South Wales and Melbourne. Apart from these three universities, Australian Super, one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds, is also a member. Uniseed has made over 30 investments in technologies arising from its partner universities, including Vintela (AVCAL Best Early Stage Deal 2005) and QRx-Pharma (largest biotech IPO in ASX history).

Contacts:
Richard Marshall
CEO

+1 518 572 8572

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