Nano Terra nabs $17M in first funding round

Nanotechnology development firm Nano Terra Inc. of Cambridge has taken in $17.2 million of a planned $23.6 million venture funding round, according to federal documents.

While the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission doesn’t list the backers in the new funding round, it does note as a director of the company Carmichael Roberts of North Bridge Venture Partners. This is the first funding the company has taken in that requires notice to the SEC.

According to the SEC filing, the funding round has six backers, and is comprised of equity and options or warrants to secure future equity.

Nano Terra is developing so-called “smart materials,” including ultra-thin electronic displays, fuel cells, sensors and solar power devices, based on technology developed by its co-founder, Harvard University professor and serial entrepreneur George Whitesides.

In October of 2008, Nano Terra and German drug maker Merck KGaA upgraded their exisiting product development partnership to a commercialization deal. Nano Terra helped co-develop Merck’s “printable electronics” using nanometer-sized materials and a soft lithography technique called micro-contact printing.

In 2007, Nano Terra entered into a similar, multiyear development and licensing agreement with 3M Co. of Minnesota, aimed at helping 3M bring to market nano-scale materials and products developed using Nano Terra’s molecular fabrication methods.