British plastic screen firm gets £25m boost

 

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By Laura Haynes and Barry Collins

Posted on 4 Aug 2008 at 12:11

A Cambridge-based company that's working on plastic screen technology has won £25 million in additional funding.

Plastic Logic's flexible plastic displays have already generated £75 million of investment from a consortium including BASF and Intel. The company today announced the injection of a further £25 million, including funds from Amadeus Capital Partners, which counts legendary tech investor Hermann Hauser among its directors.

Plastic Logic says the funding will help it move towards the launch of a "consumer electronics device incorporating this groundbreaking display technology in early 2009".

Videos of the Plastic Logic technology show a monochrome electronic newspaper, that flips the page when the reader flexes the corner of the plastic screen. The 10.7in screen is marginally larger than a sheet of A5 paper.

"We are approaching very significant milestones in the creation of the plastic electronics industry with the opening of our Dresden plant and the pending launch of our first commercial consumer electronics product," claims CEO Richard Archuleta.

"This new investment will enable expanded business operations in support of our first commercial product early next year while we continue to develop our intellectual property to deliver on our broader long-term vision."

Most current eBook devices, such as Amazon's popular Kindle readeruse glass screens, giving Plastic Logic a lucrative market to aim for with its lighter and, crucially, lower-cost displays.

The company is also looking to embed its screens in laptops and mobile phones.