Manta Instruments acquired by HORIBA Instruments
January 24, 2019 – Menlo Park, CA – Vertical Venture Partners (“VVP)” and their affiliate the UCSD Triton Technology Fund announced today that Horiba Instruments Incorporated acquired all shares of their portfolio company, Manta Instruments, Inc. Manta has earned a high reputation for its nanoparticle characterization technology by using a breakthrough multispectral nanoparticle tracking technique that was developed and patented by the University of California, San Diego. This leading developer, manufacturer, and supplier of nanoparticle tracking analysis systems is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Horiba Instruments.
The latest model of Manta’s nanoparticle tracking analysis systems, the ViewSizer® 3000, emits a laser beam at nanoparticles in Brownian motion in a fluid to track them and, by means of image analysis, evaluates size distribution, number concentration, and the aggregation state of particles from 10 nanometers in size with high resolution. The particle characterization instruments market, which Manta’s ViewSizer 3000® belongs to, is estimated to reach 2.06 billion yen in 2019 and continue to expand at a compound average growth rate (CAGR) of 8.4% up to 2022 (Company data).
After the completion of the acquisition process, Manta’s development and production functions will be transferred to Horiba Instruments, thus commencing the development of the next-generation model by capitalizing on Horiba’s proprietary technologies. When combined with existing optical technologies, Manta’s image processing technology is expected to contribute to in-vitro diagnostics, regenerative medicine, and research and development of biopharmaceuticals, in addition to particle measurement. Horiba also plans to apply this advanced technology to CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) slurries in the semiconductor field and aquatic nanoparticle measurement in the environmental field.
About Vertical Venture Partners
Vertical Venture Partners (“VVP”) is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm founded in 2015 by Dave Schwab, a 20-year veteran in early stage technology investing.
VVP focuses on making Seed and Series A investments in B2B technology companies targeting pain points in specific vertical sectors.
The VVP team has decades of operating and investment experience gained from diverse backgrounds in venture capital, research & development, investment banking and advanced technology.
VVP works with the University of California on a variety of commercialization projects.
Please visit www.vvp.vc to learn more.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Media contact: Doreen Thawley; doreen@vvp.vc