Brian Blum
October 22, 2018, Updated October 23, 2018

Nanotechnologists seeking more than nano-financing have a new fund to turn to. Yissum, the technology transfer arm of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, last week launched a new fund focused exclusively on innovations emerging from the university’s nanotech research.

The fund has already secured $6 million of an anticipated $9 million.

Yissum works with scientists at the Hebrew University to commercialize their inventions. The nanotech fund joins two existing funds – Integra Holdings, founded in 2012 to focus on biotech, and Agrinnovation, launched in 2015 to fund agricultural and food innovations originating from the university’s Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture Food and the Environment.

With the financing for the new nanotech fund, Yissum has raised more than $50 million to date.

The new fund will focus on smart materials and nanotechnologies with an emphasis on 3D printing, quantum science and renewable energy, the university said.

The second annual international 3D Printing and Beyond – Current and Future Trends conference is scheduled for November 7 at the university’s Safra campus.

Among prominent nanotechnology researchers from Hebrew University are Prof. Uri Banin, who founded Qlight, which was acquired by Merck in 2015; Prof. Shlomo Magdassi, whose companies include Dip-Tech (acquired by Ferro) and Nano Dimension; and Prof. Oded Shoseyov, whose companies include Valentis Nanotech, Collplant and SP Nano.

Yissum was founded in 1964 and has registered over 10,000 patents covering 2,800 inventions and resulting in some 135 companies, all with roots at the Hebrew University.

The launch of the new fund was announced at Nano IL 2018, a nanotech conference that was held in Jerusalem last week and that attracted over 800 participants from around the world.

The Hebrew University nanotech fund has already made preliminary investments in three technologies including 3D printing of wood, a diamond-based hand-held MRI, and a metal-free display in solar cells.

 

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