De Beers Investment Fund Opens Shop in Silicon Valley
October 11, 11An Element Six lab in Ireland (above). The firm's fund is looking for early-seed ventures that utilize synthetic diamonds |
Located in Santa Clara at a planned Element Six production site, the company will focus on broadening its portfolio of early-stage emerging-technology investments in the region.
An active investor worldwide since 2006, the firm has so far invested in seven portfolio companies operating within the clean-tech, semiconductor and electronics sectors.
"Synthetic diamond's extreme properties enhance performance in new technology applications to levels not otherwise possible," said Susie Wheeler, Managing Director, Element Six Ventures Group. "Locating the Ventures' office in Silicon Valley allows us to connect with new partners who, like us, want to develop these emerging technology investments."
Element Six Ventures Group portfolio companies include California-based Group4 Labs, which develops Gallium Nitride-on-diamond semiconductor wafers for high frequency communication applications; Massachusetts-based EOI, which harnesses synthetic diamond-enabled electrodes to generate ozone for chemical free sterilization and sanitization of water; and UK-based Diamond Detectors, which manufactures synthetic diamond radiation detectors which are used on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research).