Dublin nanotechnology firm secures €750k funding

An early-stage Dublin-based nanotechnology firm has secured €750,000 in seed funding from a consortium including Enterprise Ireland.

Adama Innovations — a firm focused on deploying nanotechnology to common manufacturing processes — will use the funds to scale-up production of its first product; a ‘nano-scale’ probe fabricated from diamond, used in atomic force microscopy (AFM), which images, measures, and manipulates matter at the nanoscale.

According to Adama’s managing director, Declan Scanlan: “Almost anything that is solid can be analysed by an AFM.

“This includes cancer cells, viruses, plastic composites, metals, ceramics and biological surfaces. The AFM allows researchers, scientists and engineers to look at the surface of objects at the atomic level, which offers benefits to the medical devices and pharmaceutical industries, and cancer research, among others.”

Adama grew out of AMBER (Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research), a Science Foundation Ireland-funded centre, based at Dublin’s Trinity College.

It provides a partnership between leading researchers in material science and industry to develop materials and devices for various sectors, particularly the ICT, medical devices, and industrial technology areas.

“Adama Innovations has shown great progress since being established in 2013. We are delighted to fund a company at this early stage, with plans to exceed €2m in revenue and create 10 high-tech manufacturing jobs in the next three years,” said Brian O’Neill, Enterprise Ireland.