Monday, January 22, 2007

NanoComp's nanotubes named first N.H. 'product of the year'

By Catherine Williams

The New Hampshire High Tech Council has named NanoComp Technologies Inc. the winner of its first Product of the Year competition.

NanoComp Technologies, based in Concord, N.H., won the council's top award for the company's electrothermal nanotubes, which are spun into fibers, yarns and felts. The materials are 100 times stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum and able to conduct electricity, said Peter Antoinette, president, CEO and co-founder of NanoComp Technologies.

The fibers could be used in applications ranging from batteries to antenna systems to golf clubs to implantable human nerve replacements.

"It's real easy in the nanotech world to go from science to science fiction or from dreams to reality," said Antoinette.

Founded in 2004, NanoComp was bootstrapped until the company won $160,000 in a New Hampshire-based business plan competition in 2005. The funding led to a $2 million contract for body armor with the U.S. Army, said Antoinette. In October 2006, the company closed on a $1.5 million Series A round from Maine-based CEI Community Ventures Inc., Delaware-based Innovation Ventures LP, and a New Hampshire-based angel investor group.

NanoComp employs 12 people and maintains research relationships with the University of Massachusetts Lowell and the University of New Hampshire, said Antoinette.

NanoComp will be in an investment phase for the next two years, said Antoinette, with plans to hire three to five employees by the end of this year. Profitability, he said, is expected after 2008.

Four other competition finalists were also recognized at last week's ceremony. Animetrics Inc. of Conway, N.H., was singled out for its 3-D facial recognition system. Avionics and electro-optic systems manufacturer Kollsman Inc., based in Merrimack, N.H., was honored for technology designed to help pilots see through fog. Jetboil Inc. of Manchester, N.H., was recognized for its portable outdoor high-efficiency cooking stoves. MetaMersion LLC of Bedford, N.H., was recognized for its virtual reality gaming system.