Spin Transfer randomly accesses memory of $70m

Spin Transfer Technologies, an IT spin-out of New York University, has raised $70m in a round led by Woodford Investment Management who were joined by private wealth investment fund SandAire and existing investor Invesco Asset Management.

Spin Transfer was spun out in 2007 with help from Allied Minds, which is now its parent holding company. It raised $36m in 2012 in its series A round.

The company is commercialising research by Andrew Kent, who created so called orthogonal spin transfer magneto-resistive random access memory technology (Ost-Mram). It is a type of temporary data storage which is based on magnetic storage rather than electric charge. It retains its information even when the computer is turned off.

Spin Transfer will use the investment to accelerate its development, and hopes it can grab a significant share of the random-access memory market, worth $60bn a year. The basic, underlying technology has existed since the 1990s and so far all other companies have failed to make a dent in the market dominated by rival solutions flash memory and dynamic random-access memory.

Barry Hoberman, chief executive at Spin Transfer Technologies, said: “We are delighted to announce a successful funding round. These proceeds will enable Spin Transfer Technologies to accelerate the development and commercialisation of our proprietary, next-generation technology, putting us in an excellent position to significantly impact the sizeable market segments that the company aims to serve.”