Kateeva lands $88 million funding for its OLED production equipment

May 19, 2016

Kateeva has closed its Series E funding round with $88 million in new financing based on it equipment to mass-produce flexible organic light emitting diodes.

Conard Holton

Kateeva (Newark, CA) has closed its Series E funding round with $88 million in new financing based on its equipment to mass-produce flexible organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Flexible OLED technology gives limitless stretch to new product design innovation by liberating panel manufacturers from the constraints of glass substrates. The company's YIELDjet platform leverages inkjet printing to perform critical steps in the OLED manufacturing process.

The new investors are: BOE, Cybernaut Venture, GP Capital Shanghai, Redview Capital, and TCL Capital, all located in China. They join existing investors that include: Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, Sigma Partners, Spark Capital, Madrone Capital Partners, DBL Partners, New Science Ventures, and Veeco Instruments. The company has raised $200 million since it was founded in 2008.

The funds will accelerate new product development. The money will also help Kateeva expand manufacturing capacity at its headquarters, where production systems are being built. In addition, the funds will strengthen Kateeva's customer relations infrastructure in Asia, and support continued R&D.

The market for plastic and flexible OLED displays will reach $2.1 billion this year, according to research firm IDTechEx. By 2020, it will surpass $18 billion. While mobile phones and wearables are currently the two main applications, the research firm expects that the technology will be found in tablets and automotive applications in the coming years.

Flexible OLEDs is the first major application for Kateeva's YIELDjet platform, according to President and Co-Founder Conor Madigan, "Next up is OLED TV," he says. "Having mastered the technical challenges of mass-producing thin film encapsulation, we're now applying YIELDjet technology to help display manufacturers mass-produce the OLED RGB layer, which enables OLED TVs. The new funds will accelerate new product development, and support ongoing R&D."

Source: Kateeva

About the Author

Conard Holton | Editor at Large

Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.