Nearfield Instruments secures €135 million in landmark deep-tech funding round
18 Julio 2024 - 12:30AM
Nearfield Instruments, the developer of state-of-the art Metrology
& Inspection (M&I) solutions for the semiconductor
manufacturing industry, today announced the successful closure of a
€135 million Series-C funding round. The oversubscribed funding
round is led by two new major investors, Walden Catalyst, an
industry leading US venture capital firm helping the next
generation of category-defining businesses in deep-tech, and
Temasek, a global investor that also looks into opportunities in
emerging technologies to solve complex and high impact challenges,
and address market inflections. M&G Investments, a leading
global asset manager, through its Catalyst strategy, is acting as a
co-investor. The success of this round is further underscored by
the participation of existing investors Innovation Industries,
Invest-NL, and ING.
The growing complexities in advanced semiconductor
manufacturing, driven by the surge in demand for higher performing
and lower energy consuming chips, are addressed by Nearfield’s
innovative process control solutions. These include the QUADRA 3D
metrology system that provides non-destructive, high- throughput,
and high-resolution metrology capabilities. Nearfield is deeply
engaged with most majorchip manufacturers globally, and QUADRA is
fully validated and deployed in high-volume manufacturing.
Dr. Hamed
Sadeghian, Co-Founder
and CEO of
Nearfield Instruments: "We are
thrilled that Nearfield’s' QUADRA 3D metrology system has been
fully integrated into the first major high-volume semiconductor
manufacturing fab. This milestone solidifies our pioneering role in
advancing critical metrology for leading-edge nodes. With
significant contributions from investment leaders, we are well
positioned to meet the growing demand for Metrology &
Inspection in the coming decade. This funding will enable us to
ramp up production capacity, expand our product portfolio, and
strengthen our position as a keyplayer in the semiconductor
equipment industry."
The funding round is the second largest capital raise in the
semiconductor fabrication equipment market in Europe and the US in
the past 5 years, according to Mergermarket.
Young Sohn,
Founding Managing
Partner at
Walden Catalyst: “Advanced
semiconductors are the key pillars for global innovation and
growth. The next generation of semiconductors will be driven
by Advanced Lithography and 3D Integration, with smaller
features, deeper trenches, and tighter tolerances. The high-volume
manufacturing of these next gen devices requires new process
control tools to enable higher yield and throughput, and
Nearfield's metrology solutions are critical for solving these
process control challenges. We are excited to partner with Hamed
and his world-class team to further accelerate Nearfield's
growth.”
As a Netherlands-based scale-up, Nearfield is
embedded in the strong Dutch ecosystem of semiconductor
innovation and investments, an industry that is expected to reach
USD 1 trillion in global revenue by 2029. The funding round is the
largest deep-tech investment round in the Netherlands and is yet
another testimony of the country’s leading position in
semiconductors globally.
Eric Meurice, Chairman of the Nearfield Instruments
Supervisory Board: “This fantastic outcome enables us to
accelerate Nearfield’s efforts to provide unique solutions to meet
the industry's metrology and inspection needs for the most advanced
nodes. Providing process control and yield improvement is
critical in this global industry. It is great to see the
continued support of our shareholders combined with the onboarding
of new industry-leading investors who will reinforce our global
view and network and cement the company's position as the leader in
Metrology & Inspection.”
About Nearfield
InstrumentsNearfield Instruments, a Netherlands
based spin-off of Dutch research institute TNO, is bridging the
semiconductor industry’s metrology and inspection challenges with
in-line, non-destructive process control nanometrology solutions
for advanced 3D memory and logic devices. Their groundbreaking
technology combines high-resolution with high-throughput, essential
for the production of advanced semiconductor nodes. Nearfield is
headquartered in Rotterdam with offices in Eindhoven, The
Netherlands and Pyeongtaek, South Korea.For more information, visit
www.nearfieldinstruments.com
About Walden
Catalyst VenturesWalden Catalyst
is a venture capital firm helping early-stage companies in the
U.S., Europe, and Israel build the next generation of
category-defining businesses in deep-tech. The firm is led by Young
Sohn and Lip-Bu Tan, deep-tech industry pioneers who between them
have invested in more than 600 startups across the globe, of which
138 have gone on to IPO. Walden Catalyst is focused on deep- tech
investments and their team of innovators and entrepreneurs are
passionate about disruptive technologies and committed to
excellence. This translates into unparalleled access to operational
expertise, global reach, and a network of industry captains eager
to help build and scale the companies of the future.Visit us at
www.waldencatalyst.com or follow @Walden Catalyst Ventures
About TemasekTemasek is a
global investment company headquartered in Singapore, with a net
portfolio value of S$389 billion (€267b) as of 31 March 2024.
Temasek’s Purpose “So Every Generation Prospers” guides it
to make a difference for today’s and future generations.
Operating on commercial principles, it seeks to deliver sustainable
returns over the long term. Temasek has 13 offices in 9 countries
around the world: Beijing, Hanoi, Mumbai, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and
Singapore in Asia; and Brussels, London, Mexico City, New York,
Paris, San Francisco, and Washington, DC outside Asia.For more
information, visit https://www.temasek.com.sg
About M&G
M&G Investments is part of M&G plc, a
savings and investment business, which listed as an independent
company on the London Stock Exchange in October 2019. It has €396
billion of assets under management (as of 31 December 2023)
and customers in the UK, Europe, the Americas and Asia. M&G has
a rich heritage of investing in private markets through a range of
strategies in its €84 billion Private Markets business. It launched
Catalyst in 2021 a multi-billion purpose-led flexible private
markets strategy which invests in innovative solutions to some
of the world’s biggest environmental and social challenges on
behalf of M&G’s Life business and its 4.7 million
customers.
Media ContactStefan SimonsCFF
Communications+31 6 20300796stefan.simons@cffcommunications.nl
Roland van VlietChief Partnership Officer Nearfield Instruments
B.V. +31-10-2233610 roland.vanvliet@nearfieldinstruments.com