Colochrome raises fundings

LONDON — Colochrome Oy, a Finnish manufacturer of protective lenses and glassware founded in 2002, has raised a Series A round of finance with Nordic Venture Capital, Eqvitec Technology Fund III and Creandum Advisor AB, according to Creandum. According to EETimes Creandum did not say how much had been raised but added that the arrangement includes debt financing from the OP Bank Group. The fundings will be used by Colochrome to increase its manufacturing capacity in Helsinki, Finland. "The quality of current windows is unsatisfactory as they scratch easily, the optical quality is poor and the manufacturing processes are cumbersome. We offer an innovative and proven solution to this surprisingly common problem and with this financing arrangement we can industrialize and commercialize our innovations for the needs of the global markets. Our plan is to commence manufacturing in early 2007," said Ismo Rautiainen, chief executive officer of Colochrome, in a statement issued by Creandum. "The market of protective lenses in mobile telecom handsets alone is estimated to grow to 2.5 billion units by 2010," said Jussi Hattula, investment director for Eqvitec Partners, in the same statement without giving a source for the data.