Date: Nov 22, 2013 Author: Scott Suttell Source: crainscleveland.com (
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ABSMaterials Inc. of Wooster, which makes a material system called Osorb that can remove volatile organic pollutants from water, said it has raised more than $4 million in a Series B financing round led by RKS Ventures, a strategic investment group based in Nashua, N.H.
RKS Ventures was joined in the financing round by existing investors Harris & Harris Group Inc. and a number of individuals. ABSMaterials said it will use the money "for market expansion, manufacturing improvements and expansion into new markets in Asia."
Stephen Spoonamore, co-founder of ABSMaterials, said in a news release that the company "has commercially fielded Osorb in a number of multibillion-dollar markets with very limited resources. RKS Ventures has deep experience in taking industrial systems and ramping them quickly into Asian markets."
RKS Ventures is led by Kedar Gupta, who also is CEO of Advanced RenewableEnergy Inc. and the founder of GT Solar, an equipment provider for the solar silicon industry, and of ARC Energy, a maker of furnace technologies for synthetic sapphire used in LED markets.
Dr. Gupta said in the news release that RKS Ventures "was looking at a large number of new opportunities in emerging technology. We view ABSMaterials as having more potential, in more markets than any previous technology we have worked with."
ABSMaterials was founded in 2009 and in 2010 received $2.6 million from North Coast Angel Fund, Harris & Harris Group and Vivero Group.
Its customers include global engineering firms URS and Tetratech; several oil and gas firms; and a cosmetics company now in human testing, according to the news release.
