Partnering with Halo Industries to Improve Cutting Edge Materials Production
We are proud to announce that we are leading a financing for Halo Industries, a physics-powered startup delivering cutting-edge wafer manufacturing technology that can be used to dramatically reduce the cost of producing cutting edge materials such as silicon for solar, silicon carbide for electric vehicles and sapphire for displays. In short, Halo Industries is commercializing a groundbreaking laser-based approach to fabricating high tech material wafers that meaningfully reduces the cost of manufacturing, drastically improves product specifications, and enables entirely new performance and functionality.
Today, manufacturers leverage traditional wire-saws to slice bulk material into sellable wafers. This results in considerable kerf loss (i.e. a loss of material up to 50% in some cases) and consequently major inefficiencies in the supply chain of many of the most important electronics components in the world. Halo Industries has invented the long-needed approach to wafer fabrication that eliminates material loss while improving quality and throughput for producers. In addition, the company’s novel process enables unique form factors and product specifications at unrivaled price points for next generation products such as foldable displays, advanced sensors and flexible electronics.
The technology has already been validated both in the lab and in proofs of concept on the production line in the silicon and silicon carbide markets. This has resulted in significant customer demand particularly in the silicon solar and power electronics markets. Halo Industries has active pilot partnerships with leading manufacturers in both industries and is actively building additional relationships.
Moreover, Halo Industries is delivering their patented slicing approach in an excellent business model that serves their customer base across a wide range of industries. They give customers the production systems at or below cost (which is lower capital expenditures than the existing approach) to integrate seamlessly into the existing processes. Then, they offer a monthly services fee to customers that scales with customer volume, thus aligning the success of Halo with that of the customer. This unique combination of technology and approach opens a massive market opportunity of tens of billions of dollars across solar, electric vehicles, displays and other high tech products.
With this investment of $3mm alongside substantial grants from the DOE and the California Energy Commission, the team will be expanding rapidly. If you are interested in contributing at Halo Industries, apply here.
We are thrilled to invest in the Halo Industries team led by founder and CEO Andrei Iancu to invent the future of materials fabrication.
Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in seed-stage companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation and computing.
