Siluria Tech takes in $3.3M for nanoscale engineering

June 22, 2009 | Camille Ricketts | Comments | |

Siluria Technologies, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm specializing in engineering inorganic materials with biological nanotechnology, has brought in $3.3 million in equity and convertible preferred stock from undisclosed investors, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company, which has no prior funding history, was founded by former academic Andrea Belcher, who devised a way to manipulate DNA in viruses to synthesize new inorganic materials. One of her first projects was to create a virally-built battery capable of powering small devices. Belcher has also used yeast and other microorganisms to create solar cells, displays and other recognizable products. The processes used are more environmentally friendly than the alternatives.

Siluria is not the first company she has founded based on this technology. In 2003, she co-founded Cambrios Technologies in Mountain View, Calif., to market biologically-produced electronics. Siluria, on the other hand, remains in stealth mode. It was founded in 2007.

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About the Author, Camille Ricketts

Camille is the lead writer for GreenBeat. She came to VentureBeat from Google where she worked on its traditional platforms team, particularly in TV. Before that, she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York and London. Follow her on Twitter at @camillericketts, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

With GreenBeat 2009, VentureBeat's all-star conference on all things Smart Grid, coming up in November, Camille will be expanding coverage of this exciting space. Stay up to date by following @greenbeat2009 on Twitter or by becoming a fan of the event on Facebook here.

  • Just a couple of corrections - the "former academic" is Angela Belcher (not Andrea). Also, I believe she is still considered an academic as she holds a faculty position while building a company that runs tangential to her academic research.