Dear , 

Paragraf is a new spin out from Sir Colin Humphreys’ research group, from the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy. The company was created in 2015 to develop two-dimensional materials and two-dimensional materials-based devices using a new production approach.

The Technology
Graphene is a super material that has the potential to revolutionise many applications. However, this revolution has yet to materialise because there are no high-quality graphene layers available at commercial scale. Graphene has been manufactured for several years in liquefied suspension, flake laminate and wafer covering forms via various techniques. However, all techniques have several common drawbacks such as heavy layer contamination and layer thickness variability. Although such graphene is being used in applications such as bike tyres, it is useless for commercial applications in high-tech devices.

Paragraf believe they have resolved these issues with their proprietary two-dimensional material production technique. Using a novel manufacturing approach the Company has achieved a cost-effective epitaxial solution that allows full hetero-structure production in a one-step process, reducing device manufacturing time and cost, eliminating metal catalyst contamination and removing significant amounts of downstream processing requirements.

IP
There has been one patent filed with priority date August 2015 that covers a novel methodology to produce two-dimensional, single element, materials using gas phase deposition. The IP covers graphene and other two-dimensional materials such as silicene, borophene and phosphorene.

The company expects to file other patents around individual products and new developments.

The Opportunity
The potential for graphene use in a wide variety of high-tech device applications is well documented. However, there is currently no reliable, consistent source of large-area graphene layers, so actual sales are very small and in niche markets. If early performance continues, the Company believes significant opportunities exist in two target market spaces:

Existing and advanced graphene layer market: supplying graphene materials and functionalised graphene and graphene multilayer and/or heterostructures to current global consumption, generally R&D institutes, universities and companies with research programs such as Infineon, Bosch, Toshiba and IQE. In 2015 the graphene layer total addressable market exceeded $53m worldwide and is expected to be $150m by 2020. The advanced graphene market is difficult to predict, as these products do not currently exist.

Graphene devices and applications: technologies where graphene can be applied as a material to replace and/or supplement existing materials, for example a graphene based field effect transistor (GFET) as a replacement for conventional silicon FET’s. Additionally, there are technologies that currently do not exist but may become possible due to the availability of graphene in the required format, for example low or zero energy desalination using micro-pore graphene layers.

Key markets accessible by Paragraf include solid state logic ($91.6bn), micro IC’s ($62.1bn), Hall Effect Sensors ($1.2bn) and water filtration ($3bn).

The Team
Dr Simon Thomas, CEO, is a co-founder of Paragraf and an expert in functional materials and their applications, and an experienced company leader.

Dr Ivor Guiney, CTO, is a co-founder of Paragraf and an expert in graphene growth, the production of V/III structures and solid state device physics.

Prof Sir Colin Humphreys, Chairman is a Director of the Cambridge Centre for Gallium Nitride, Sir Colin is a world authority in solid state materials, devices and applications.

Andrew Lynn, Director, is an experienced serial entrepreneur, Andrew has taken Orthomimetics and CamGan to successful exits and is now CEO of Fluidic Analytics, another Parkwalk investee company.

The Outlook
This is an exciting opportunity involving a top-quality team. The early indications are encouraging, and if they prove to be repeatable and scalable the commercial applications are significant. We are investing alongside Cambridge Enterprise, IQ Capital and Amadeus Partners.

This financial promotion is issued by Parkwalk Advisors Limited (Parkwalk), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Investments referred to in this newsletter are not suitable for all investors.  Interested parties are strongly recommended to seek specialist financial and tax advice before investing in any product.  Capital is at risk and investors may not get back the full amount invested. Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each investor and may be subject to change. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results, and the value of investments may go down as well as up. Projections and forecasts are also not a reliable indicator of future performance. Investments in small and unquoted companies carry a higher risk than many other forms of investment. Any investment in a Parkwalk product must only be made on the basis of the terms of the full Information Memorandum. Parkwalk is not able to provide advice as to the suitability of investing in any product.