Bodle Technologies, a spinout of Oxford University commercialising a thin, transparent smart material capable of generating low-energy high-resolution displays and glazing, has attracted investment from a number of Oxford funds.
Oxford Sciences Innovation, the £320m ($482m) university venturing fund launched earlier this year, led the round. It was joined by University of Oxford Isis Fund II, the fund for Oxford’s technology transfer unit Isis Innovation and managed by Parkwalk Advisors, and the Oxford Technology and Innovations EIS Fund. The financial details of the round were not disclosed.
The invention was developed by professor Harish Bhaskaran and his research Peiman Hosseini at Oxford’s Department of Materials. David Fyfe, executive chairman of Oxford PV, will join Bodle as executive chairman.
Bhaskaran said: “This new approach allows us to create materials which can not only manipulate light very cleverly, but are also very cost-effective. We will be creating smart glazing which allows only certain wavelengths of light into a building, giving instant control over both the heat and light being transmitted, and over the appearance of the glass. We will also be working on other applications for these thin film materials including novel reflective displays and security markings. This technology is capable of providing vivid colour displays which appear similar to paper, yet with very high resolution. It is also capable of rendering extremely high-resolution videos that can be seen in bright sunlight.”
