OREANDA-NEWS. December 13, 2010. The Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies has announced that it will invest 150 million rubles in automated mass production of thermoelectric micro coolers, cooling systems, and related devices, a project proposed by Russian company RMT. The project also attracted co-investment from the private venture capital fund S-Group Ventures.

Russian company RMT is one of the world’s ten largest producers of thermoelectric micro cooling products.  It currently holds a two percent share of the world market, selling its goods in Russia, the United States, Canada, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Japan. 

The thermoelectric modules, which operate on the Peltier effect, cool a range of devices: semiconductor and other types of lasers, powerful light-emitting diodes, highly sensitive photoreceivers, elements for high-performance integrated circuits, microprocessors, and biomedical instruments. The miniature thermoelectric coolers that RMT specializes in are integrated into the body of microelectric units; the closer the cooling elements are to the heat source, the more effectively the units work.

Gennadi Gromov, general director of RMT, commented: “We are very pleased to begin working with such strong investment partners. Our collaboration will enable RMT’s business to become more effective and more successful. The investments will be used to establish one of the most technologically advanced productions of thermoelectric micromodules and instruments in the world.”

Alexander Yakushev, director of S-Group Capital Management to which S-Group Ventures belongs, remarked: “This transaction gives us the opportunity to play a strategic role in the growth of a Russian high-tech company, a world leader in its segment with a significant market share. We look at the synergy this project has with other portfolio companies that we hold and we are quite pleased.”

Commenting on the investment, RUSNANO managing director Dmitry Lisenkov said: “Clearly, further improvements in the technology for powerful semiconductor devices depends on advances in thermoelectrics. Investments in that sphere are particularly pressing for RUSNANO because a sizeable share of our portfolio today is in opto- and nanoelectronic projects.”