Craton Equity Partners Leads $60 Million Investment in Bridgelux

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Craton Equity Partners, Southern California's leading clean tech private equity fund, today announced it has led a $60 million round in Series E financing for Bridgelux Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of LED lighting technologies. Existing financial and strategic investors also participated in the round, including VantagePoint Capital Partners, DCM, El Dorado Ventures, Novus Energy Partners, Invus Group, VTS, Harris & Harris Group and Passport Capital among others.

Bridgelux will use the new funding to extend its leadership position in the solid state lighting market by accelerating research and development in key areas of strategic focus for the company, including GaN-on-Silicon development and LED Chip-on-Board architecture.  

"We are thrilled to partner with Bridgelux at this important point in the company's growth trajectory as it advances new lighting technologies that are more efficient yet lower-cost," said Kevin Wall, managing partner, Craton Equity Partners. "At Craton we continually strive to support standout sector leaders, like Bridgelux, that are positioned to address today's global clean energy challenges through the application of new technologies to massive markets."

"Craton Equity Partners is a top growth stage investor in clean tech, and we welcome their support as we work to expand the market for solid state solutions for general lighting - which we expect to triple this year to over $3 billion," said Bill Watkins, Bridgelux's Chief Executive Officer. "This additional capital will accelerate our breakthrough development efforts in producing commercial grade LEDs on silicon and in creating new packaging solutions for our LED chips. We think our proprietary innovation in both of these areas is critical to driving market adoption."

David Asarnow, principal, Craton Equity Partners, will join the Bridgelux board as an observer.

About Craton Equity Partners

Craton is Southern California's largest exclusive clean tech private equity fund. Craton was recently announced as one of the top ten California clean technology funds by PE Hub.  Craton focuses its investment strategies on a diverse set of subsectors from retail alternative fuels, to wastewater treatment technology, recycling and solid state lighting to a series of smart grid and energy efficiency technologies. Craton is located in Los Angeles, California. For more information visit www.cratonep.com.

About Bridgelux

Bridgelux is a leading developer and manufacturer of technologies and solutions transforming the $40 billion global lighting industry into a $100 billion market opportunity.  Based in Livermore, California, Bridgelux is a pioneer in solid-state lighting (SSL), expanding the market for light-emitting diode (LED) technologies by driving down the cost of LED lighting systems.  Bridgelux's patented light source technology replaces traditional technologies (such as incandescent, halogen, fluorescent and high intensity discharge lighting) with integrated, solid-state lighting solutions that enable lamp and luminaire manufacturers to provide high performance and energy-efficient white light for the rapidly growing interior and exterior lighting markets, including street lights, commercial lighting and consumer applications.  With more than 500 patent applications filed or granted worldwide, Bridgelux is the only vertically integrated LED manufacturer and developer of solid-state light sources that designs its solutions specifically for the lighting industry.  For more information about the company, please visit www.bridgelux.com  

SOURCE Craton Equity Partners