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Fukuoka, Japan-based Kyulux brings in $13.5M in funding for new OLED tech

The startup aimed at commercializing the OLED display and lighting technology known as Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence, announced that Samsung Venture Investment Corp. took the lead in a $13.5 million Series A round of venture funding.

April 8, 2016

Fukuoka, Japan-based Kyulux Inc., an advanced materials startup aimed at commercializing the next generation of OLED display and lighting technology known as Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence, announced earlier this week that Samsung Venture Investment Corp. took the lead in a $13.5 million (¥1.5 Billion Japanese Yen) Series A round of venture funding.

Participating in the round were global OLED panel manufacturers including Samsung Display, LG Display, Japan Display and JOLED, top-tier Japanese venture capital funds and a Japanese government-affiliated venture fund, according to the announcement. Kyushu University also announced the transfer of a large portfolio of TADF related patents and equity participation by the university in the financing. 

"We are extremely pleased with the enormous response we have had from strategic partners and investors," co-founder Professor Chihaya Adachi, the inventor of TADF technology, said in the announcement. "This funding will allow Kyulux to develop TADF technology into the new de facto standard for OLED displays and lighting. Because our technology has achieved high efficiency and deep blue emission as well as red and green without using rare metals such as iridium that are required for the previous generation of phosphorescent emission that I was also an inventor of, we will now have an alternative that is better for the environment, cheaper to produce and absent the finite limits that the supply of iridium would allow."

Dr. Christopher Savoie, the CEO of Kyulux, said: "We are very glad to announce this significant funding milestone and the agreement on technology transfer with Kyushu University. We have brought in some key global OLED leaders and world renowned investors who will give us a strong base to accelerate the market for this next generation of OLED technology."

Apple recently reported plans to begin using OLED display technology for its devices such as the iPhone starting in 2018, which will cause the global OLED market to increase dramatically, the company said. OLED market researchers estimate that the OLED market will reach more than $32 billion worldwide in 2020.

"We are confident in our development progress with novel TADF materials especially with support from our corporate partners," said Junji Adachi, the CTO of Kyulux who led commercialization efforts for TADF for several years before co-founding Kyulux with Adachi. "We will be introducing the next generation of emitting materials to the market very soon. We believe OLED displays with TADF will be the most prevalent interfaces for IoT in the future."