Nanostellar Inc., an emerging developer of highly efficient platinum nano-composite catalyst solutions, announced today that it has raised $3 million in a first financing round to commercialize the company's proprietary nano-composite materials, created by Rational Design & Rapid Fabrication Technology, and used in clean energy applications. The company's products will replace platinum group materials with efficient, lower-cost nanocatalysts, initially for the vehicle catalytic converter market.

Founded in 2003, Nanostellar addresses a critical need in the catalytic marketplace: conventional technologies utilize platinum as the main catalyst to control automobile emissions and to generate clean energy power. Nanostellar's patent-pending platinum nano-composite material design technology dramatically reduces the amount of platinum required for conventional catalytic processes by combining platinum with other less costly metals to make nanoparticles.

David Aslin, partner with 3i who will join Nanostellar's board of directors, commented: "As an active early-stage investor with a global tech portfolio of over 500 companies, 3i continues to identify and invest in companies that can disrupt the economics of existing markets. We are thrilled by Nanostellar's technology platform as it not only offers a great value proposition for its initial application in the vehicle catalytic converter market, but can also be applied in multiple sectors. We are excited to help the Nanostellar team gain momentum in the marketplace."

Lead investors in the company's first round of venture funding are 3i, Menlo Park, Calif., and two private equity investors: Frank Marshall who was vice president and general manager of Cisco Systems Inc.'s Core Products Business Unit; and Dr. William Miller, prior chairman of the board at Borland Software Corp., vice president and provost of Stanford University, president and CEO, SRI International, and director of the National Science Foundation, Wells Fargo Bank and Varian Associates.

Michael Pak, Nanostellar Inc.'s president and CEO, explained: "Global industrialization requires rapid development of clean energy in order to preserve our environment. Catalysts play a critical role for creating clean energy and maintaining clean air. And global catalyst markets are huge -- platinum group metal catalyst markets are $10-12 billion annually. The automobile catalyst market alone is $5-7 billion. The company plans to make engineering samples available to strategic partners this year. I'm looking forward in 2005 to introducing to industrial markets one of the first nanotechnology commercial products with short-term multi-billion dollar revenue potential."

Nanostellar plans to sell its products through top tier vendors in the vehicle catalytic converter value chain.

Nanostellar has filed five broad patent applications to-date on proprietary technology for the rational design and rapid fabrication of efficient and low-cost nano catalysts. Application areas include gasoline engine three-way catalysts, lean-burn diesel engine catalytic materials, fuel cell proton exchange membrane assemblies, and catalysts for the chemical and petrochemical industries.
New Board Member Named

In conjunction with the new funding, Nanostellar has expanded its board of directors to include David Aslin, general partner at 3i. The existing board includes Dr. William Miller (chairman), Michael Pak, president and CEO, and Dr. Jonathan Woo, CTO.

About Nanostellar

Nanostellar Inc. is a Menlo Park, Calif.-based company focused on Enabling Clean Energy and Clean Air with Nano Catalysts. The technical breakthrough is based on a fundamental understanding of catalytic processes and materials design at the quantum chemistry level, enabling the rational design and development of nano materials.
Nanostellar's management team includes Dr. William Miller (chairman), a former vice president and provost of Stanford, CEO of SRI International and director of Argonne National Laboratory, and Michael Pak (CEO) with 15 years of business development, marketing and engineering experience in Silicon Valley.

About 3i

3i is a leading international venture capital company with U.S. offices in Menlo Park, Calif. and Waltham, Mass. Operating since 1945, 3i has invested worldwide over $30 billion, including co-investment funds, with a total staff of 800 employees operating out of over 30 offices in 14 countries. 3i leverages this worldwide presence to add value to its portfolio companies and investment partners. In the United States, 3i concentrates on early and late stage technology investments in companies with the potential to be leaders in their markets. Outside the United States, 3i invests broadly in buyouts, growth capital and venture capital.

Since opening its U.S. businesses in 1999, 3i has become one of the most active early and late stage VCs in the United States. Recent investments in early stage companies include Amberwave, Neoguide Systems, Discera, DAFCA, SiGe Semiconductors, Bitfone, Sonim and OmniGuide. 3i has been equally active on the late stage, with recent investments in Skystream Networks, Merchant e-Solutions, Placeware, AppShop, Top Layer and SCP Global Technologies. Visit 3i and its portfolio at www.3ius.com.