CRLO Displays, a company formed jointly by Amadeus Capital and Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures, announces today that it has acquired the business of CRL Opto from Scipher plc. Concurrent with the acquisition, CRLO Displays has raised $19 million of funding from its owners.

CRLO is a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of silicon-based microdisplays for use in next-generation, high-definition rear projection televisions (RPTVs). Using full colour, high-resolution F-LCoS (Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal on Silicon) technology, CRLO believes its products enable television manufacturers to produce high-quality, large screen television sets with superior picture quality at low prices. The capital raised by CRLO will be used to accelerate the use of the company’s technology in these large screen televisions and other projection products.

Greg Truman becomes Managing Director of the new company and is joined on the Board by Barak Maoz of Amadeus Capital Partners and Soren Hein of Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures.

Greg Truman, Managing Director of CRLO Displays, said: “This investment enables us to build on our expertise and patented technology. We are excited at the opportunity to bring disruptive products into a growing mass market such as flat screen television with the financial backing of leading European venture capital investors.” 

Barak Maoz of Amadeus Capital Partners said: “Large screen TV is an exciting market that is expanding rapidly but is still limited by expensive technologies and high prices. Amadeus has been attracted by the CRLO team and the technology they have developed. We believe that CRLO has the potential to make a real impact on cost and performance and to become a large, internationally-recognised and successful company.”

Soren Hein of Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures added: “The Ferroelectric derivative of Liquid Crystal on Silicon has the potential to be a significant technology to deliver low-cost, high-performance flat screen TVs in the near future. Given the rapid adoption of flat screen TVs, this presents a major opportunity for CRLO.”

Advisers to the investors were Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr (legal) and Deloitte & Touche (accounting).