Nanomagnetics Ltd

Main Activity in Nanotechnology

Material Manufacturer

About Company

NanoMagnetics is a private speciality chemicals company based in the United Kingdom that designs and manufacturers an advanced magnetic material, DataInk™, for the computer hard disk industry. Both the means to produce DataInk™ and its use as a medium for information storage are broadly protected by international patents.

The company has been financed by an international syndicate of venture funds including UBS Capital, Formula Ventures, Prelude and Amadeus.

Unique in the market, DataInk™ can effectively replace the magnetic material used in today’s hard disks, while providing the manufacturing industry a predictably progressing technology roadmap to storage densities 100 times greater than that possible with conventional technology.

History

NanoMagnetics was formed by scientist Eric Mayes, formally a researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who moved to the United Kingdom in 1996 to complete his PhD in chemistry at the University of Bath, and Nick Tyler, a former investment banker with Merrill Lynch and financier with Credit Suisse First Boston. After filing a patent on their technology in 1996, the two founded the company in 1997 and began development work within modest facilities. In February 1999, the company was awarded a “Smart Award” from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) totalling L133k as well as securing L650k in seed capital from Prelude Trust, Amadeus Capital and Cambridge Research and Innovation Limited (CRIL). Immediately a laboratory was set up within the partnering Department of Physics at the University of Bristol and a research team was established.

Demonstrating successful progress and strengthened patent protection, NanoMagnetics secured L6.7m from UBS Capital Ventures, Formula Ventures, Interregnum, Bank Atlantic Financial Ventures alongside the original syndicate. NanoMagnetics has recently grown to 15 full time employees working in a new 10,000 square foot research and development facility on the outskirts of Bristol.

Trade Names

DataInk