Monday, February 13, 2012

Spin Transfer whips up $36M in first round

By Rodney Brown

Allied Minds has spun out a new startup, Spin Transfer Technologies Inc., with $36 million in a Series A round and tech to make a new kind of computer and device memory.

Joining Allied Minds in backing the Boston-based startup was Invesco Asset Management, according to a news release. Spin Transfer is working on what it calls “orthogonal spin transfer magnetoresistive random access memory” which the company claims will be non-volatile like flash memory - the kind used in memory cards for cameras, for example - but have the read and write speeds of volatile DRAM and SRAM styles of memory - the kinds found in computers and laptops.

According to the release, Spin Transfer was established by Allied Minds and New York University, based on the work of NYU Professor Andrew Kent. The key to spin Transfer’s technology is the discovery by Kent of a principle of orthogonal-shaped magnetic nanostructures that allows the switching of a spin state to happen much more quickly than in other shapes, and by using less power.

Last July, Allied Minds created a new subsidiary, Allied Minds Devices LLC, to help the technology transfer of medical device innovations in U.S. universities and research institutions into commercialization. In April 2011, the company named Steven H. Cliadakis as general manager. Cliadakis said in the release that the new funds would “help further advance our efforts toward development and ultimately commercialization.”