Wilmington, MA--TeraDiode, a Wilmington company working on new technology that makes ultra-high brightness direct-diode lasers for industrial applications including steel cutting and welding, received a $2 million term loan from the Emerging Technology Fund of MassDevelopment (Boston, MA), the state's finance and development agency that works with businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. In 2012, TeraDiode began leasing a 25,000 sq. ft. facility on Upton Drive in Wilmington. To outfit the building, TeraDiode is creating 15,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing floor space, most of which requires a clean room environment and specialty alignment equipment. TeraDiode will use loan proceeds to buy equipment for assembly; testing; laboratory and office uses; laboratory construction; and working capital for assembling lasers.
"TeraDiode's breakthroughs in laser technology embody the collaborative, cutting-edge quality of the Massachusetts high-tech industry," said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. "We're pleased to leverage this loan from the Emerging Technology Fund to help the company's expansion in Wilmington."
TeraDiode was founded in 2009 to commercialize wavelength-beam-combining direct-diode laser technology, which is the third generation of kilowatt-class high brightness industrial lasers. TeraDiode says that direct-diode methods are inherently the lowest cost, most compact, and highest efficiency industrial lasers; when used with wavelength beam combining, the laser also has the brightness previously provided only by larger, higher-cost, and more-power-consuming CO2, disk, and fiber lasers. The wavelength beam combining process used by TeraDiode was invented and patented by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, MA) and is exclusively licensed to TeraDiode.
Parviz Tayebati, CEO of TeraDiode said, "Wavelength beam combining direct diode is a disruptive force in the industrial laser market. The loan from the Emerging Technology Fund is instrumental in scaling our operation so that more customers can benefit from the breakthrough productivity advantages inherent in our technology. The faster we scale, the more jobs we generate in the Commonwealth."
During FY2012, MassDevelopment financed or managed 280 projects generating investment of more than $2.3 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are projected to create more than 12,000 jobs and build or rehabilitate 900 residential units.
TeraDiode is backed by investments from Stata Venture Partners, Argonaut Equity Partners, and Camros Capital.
SOURCE: TeraDiode; http://teradiode.com/2013/01/11/2-million-emerging-technology-fund-loan-finances-teradiode-equipment-lab/