OLED materials innovator CYNORA secures US$25M, names new CEO

 

Marking the initial closing of its Series C funding round, CYNORA (Bruchsal, Germany) announced that it has secured US$25M in financing from investors in Asia, Europe and the US. The company is an emerging materials leader with a novel technology to produce ultra-high-efficiency emitter systems required for next-generation Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) displays. The company has raised US$80M since its inception in 2008. Final closing of the C round with an additional investment is expected shortly.

In a related move, CYNORA appointed Adam Kablanian as CEO. Kablanian joins the company as part of the C round. He succeeds Gildas Sorin who led the company through R&D and early customer engagements. Sorin will remain at CYNORA during the transition. Kablanian previously led several Silicon Valley-based public and privately-held companies, bringing complex technologies to market and building large infrastructures to support global customers. They include Virage Logic, an embedded memory leader he co-founded and took public before it was acquired by Synopsys. He also led PlasmaSi, an OLED encapsulation company acquired by Aixtron.

The new Series C investors include: SRF Partners Group LLC (SRF), a US fund that includes financing from a Korean technology corporation; DBOLED LLC, a US fund, and SBI Cross-Border Advantage Fund, based in Korea. Existing investors also participated in the round. They include: MIG Funds, a leading German VC firm, and Wecken & Cie, based in Switzerland. Previous investors include LG Display and Samsung Venture Investment Corp.

The funds will be used to build a worldwide infrastructure to support the production, sales and support of CYNORA’s Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence (TADF) materials for next-generation OLED displays. TADF materials will radically improve the efficiency of blue emitters, which are currently the performance-limiting components of the OLED device. Boosting the efficiency of blue emitters is a top priority for display manufacturers. Not only can ultra-high-efficiency blue emitters slash power consumption by up to 50 percent, they can also reduce the manufacturing costs. CYNORA’s proprietary TADF blue emitter solution, now nearing commercialisation, has the proven capability to enable low-power advantages, with performance metrics that lead the industry.

Kablanian, a multi-time technology company CEO, will lead CYNORA from the company’s HQ in Germany. Throughout his career, he has built several successful global companies around disruptive science-based technologies, creating value for customers and shareholders. With Virage Logic, he took a pioneering semiconductor memory design IP solution to the global market, breaching commercialisation barriers and enabling marquee customers with a differentiated embedded memory technology. 

“Helping emerging technology companies become market leaders is my passion and my forte. And when the technology promises meaningful innovation for an industry as large as information displays, it’s especially exciting. That’s what drew me to CYNORA. There’s work to do to fulfil customers’ demanding specs for their next-generation OLED displays. But our roadmap is aggressive, our talent is strong, and our financials are solid. I’m grateful for the opportunity to lead this next phase of CYNORA’s growth,” said Adam Kablanian.

Caption: Adam Kablanian, new CEO at CYNORA (photo: CYNORA)