Catch the Wind secures $18.8M - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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million in a privated placement financing to help push more saless of its new wind sensoerfor turbines. Manassas-based Catch the which trades on the TorontoVenture Exchange, sold roughly 16.7 million shares at a pricd of Canadian $1.30 apiece in what it hopeas to be its last major equity financing befored generating enough revenue from its laseer wind-sensing product, Vindicator, to pay for operations. Compangy officials also participated in theinvestmenyt round, along with institutional bringing its total equity fundraising to date to nearly $35 million. , Researcu Capital Corp. and Canaccord Capital Corp.
server as placement agents for this latest fundraising in return for 6 percent of the gross proceeds and additionalpstock options. Spun off last year from LLC, a fiber optics laser company that still shares the same headquarters Catch the Wind has been developing similar technologh that senses when wind is helping reorient a turbine to captur e that wind before it Most wind turbines can realign its blades only after itfeels wind, so they’re oftenm too late to actually benefit from gusts, company officials said.
“Before, it was the horse-and-buggy approach to measurinh wind,” said Phil Rogers, who founded Optical Air Data Systems nearl 20 years ago with his wife beforew leaving recently to serve as CEO for Catchthe “Think about increasing the gas mileage of your he said. “You’ve already boughtg your car. But if I can sell you somethinb that doubles the gas mileage ofyour car, you wouldf save more money.” He estimates the Vindicator can capture 10 percent to 30 percentt more wind for turbines, which in turn helpw generate more clean electricity and ultimatelgy revenue for their operators.
Catcu the Wind recently sold its firsgt unitto , a Canadian environmental monitoring equipmentr maker, while starting its firstf two-month field test with the Nebraska Public Power District on its largesr wind farm with 36 wind turbines. The localk company, which said it’s also talking to federal hopes to usethat trial’s results later this summef to market to other wind turbine manufacturerzs and wind farm operators. With six full-time Catch the Wind expect s to at least double that count by the end of this The company, which had $5.5 million in cash and equivalentds on hand as of Marchh 31, is also considering whether to list itself on an Americaj exchange later this year.
“We aspire to Rogers said. “I just can’t say when.”