BASF Venture invests in Canada's Quantiam Technologies

BASF Venture Capital GmbH, Ludwigshafen, is investing in Quantiam Technologies Inc., Edmonton, Canada, which develops and markets functional coatings for extreme operating environments such as petrochemicals industry applications.

 Quantiam provides the most advanced high-performance coatings in the world for internal-surfaces of complex shapes such as tubulars. Its coating capacity has grown rapidly and by the end of the current year it expects to provide coatings for tube-lengths of up to 20 feet.

The heat-resistant products help prevent erosion and corrosion and are based on novel  coatings, surfaces and catalysts.

''This investment gives us an excellent basis for using a world-first technology that combines cost savings with lower maintenance and can be applied on a global scale at BASF Verbund sites,'' said Dr. Heinrich-Josef Blankertz, head of global strategy and technology petrochemicals at BASF.

Quantiam has emerged from the current investment round with C$6 million (approximately €4.0 million), with BASF Venture Capital contributing C$3 million and a matchingamount from Toronto-ased private investment fund Ursataur Capital Management L P.

Quantiam will use the additional capital to fund an expansion of production plant to enable its capacity to be put to commercial use.