Versarien - Page 6

Versarien Graphene (Hong Kong), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Versarien, recently signed a joint venture agreement with Young-Graphene (Beijing) Technology Company(YG). YG has appointed the Secretary General of the China International Graphene Industry Union to act for it in this matter and is supported by both CIGIU and Beijing Institute of Graphene Technology. Versarien’s foreign wholly owned enterprise (Beijing Versarien Technology) will become the joint venture company with YG for the development of its activities in China.

The agreement signed with YG stipulates that a 50%-owned Chinese Joint Venture will be formed, for the development of applications for Versarien’s technologies in the region.

Advanced materials company Versarien announced that it had entered into a £6 mllion subscription agreement with US-based Lanstead Capital Investors.

Versarien will sell 15 million new shares to Lanstead at 40p each, which is about 9.75% of Versarien's existing share capital. This share price is around 54% premium to Versarien's mid-market price on 20 March.

Following a Global Business innovation Programme initiated in 2019, and a collaborative visit to the US, the UK established a new Graphene Innovation Group (UK-GIG) that puts together 15 specialists from UK companies that together share many years of experience in graphene and expertise across the entire value chain.

Scott Storey, a Business Innovation Advisor at Inventya and the lead coordinator at the UK-GIG, explains more about the group - "We can take an everyday industrial challenge, apply our combined graphene knowledge, engineer and manufacture an effective solution, and take that solution to national and international markets. UK-GIG is now an established cohort of 15 UK-based graphene companies, ranging from early stage through to established businesses. The UK-GIG companies are fully aware of the huge potential for graphene technology to improve materials or be used in novel ways across multiple sectors. They are seeking collaboration opportunities where they can combine their expertise to do what they do best - solve problems, design graphene applications, and help commercialize an increasingly exciting field. They aim to make the UK the best place on earth to be grafting in graphene!"

We have reached out to some of the GIG members, to find out how has graphene effected their business and products, and the effects of graphene on their materials or devices.

Oxford Advanced Surfaces (OAS) and 2-DTech (a Versarien subsidiary) has signed a collaboration agreement to develop a new range of products that incorporate graphene, into OAS’ proprietary Onto chemistry platform. OAS says these materials will enable it to enhance the mechanical performance and electrical and thermal conductivity of its products.

OAS says that its Onto chemistry platform delivers a range of versatile and reliable chemical surface treatments that are used to improve the adhesion of paints, coatings and adhesives to composite materials and engineering plastics. OAS aims to introduce a range of new products enhanced with graphene to address a wide range of applications and new materials challenges encountered in both its current and potentially new markets.

The Graphene Flagship recently launched an Airbus-Backed Project for graphene-based thermoelectric ice protection systems. Now, Versarien announced that it has been selected to participate in that project.

The Project, which is categorized by the Graphene Flagship as a Spearhead, large-scale commercialization project, aims to develop graphene-based thermoelectric ice protection systems and to advance the technology readiness level of graphene in these systems.

Versarien has announced a widening loss in the first half of its current financial year.

The materials company's pretax loss widened to GBP 2.1 million (around $2.8 million USD) in the six months to the end of September from GBP 732,000 (about $982,000 USD) loss a year earlier, as revenue dropped by 16% to GBP 4.4 million from GBP 5.2 million.

Advanced materials company Versarien recently shared that it has signed a commercial partnership agreement with textile-sector company MAS Innovation. The agreement followed a letter of intent between the parties, which set out their intent to enter into a formal commercial partnership.

The agreement specifies the terms under which the parties would secure commercial orders for garments developed using Versarien's proprietary graphene ink materials. It allowed both parties to finalize additional contractual terms with third party brands.

Manchester University’s Graphene Engineering Innovation Center (GEIC) is to host the world’s first Graphene Hackathon on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 November 2019, in which teams will compete to develop and prototype innovative product ideas using conductive graphene inks.

The GEIC, which specializes in the rapid development and scale up of graphene and other 2D materials applications will host the event over 24 hours. IP, business and technical expertise will be on hand to help develop your innovative ideas, requiring no prior experience with graphene or programming.

Global infrastructure services firm Aecom is reportedly developing one of the UK’s first 3D-printed commercial products made from graphene-reinforced polymer.

The CNCTArch is being tested in Bristol (Photo from Aecom)

Aecom has produced a graphene arch using additive manufacturing techniques. It believes the method could reduce the time and cost of installing digital signalling systems and transform the digitization of transport networks. The 4.5-meter high, lightweight arch is being tested on outdoor track at Network Rail’s workforce development center in Bristol.

Versarien released details on the Company's expansion plans for its graphene business in China, which in the past were referred to as a "term sheet" with the Beijing Institute of Graphene Technology ("BIGT").

According to Versarien, the term sheet "envisaged that BIGT would provide funding to Versarien for the proposed wholly owned subsidiary ("WFOE") and other corporate purposes in the form of an equity investment".