Chemical verification and identification company Centice, which is making headway into law enforcement and security applications, named a new chief executive officer on Tuesday and at the same time said it had secured $1.5 million in new financing.
John Goehrke is the new CEO, replacing company co-founder Prasant Potuluri. Goehrke most recently served as CEO at Nextreme Thermal Solutions, which was sold to Laird Technologies earlier this year. He also has held executive roles at siXis and Luna Innovations.
Potuluri will remain with Centice ass president and also retain his seat on the board of directors. His focus going forward will be international expansion and product development, the company said.
In addition to Goehrke’s hiring, Centice said it had secured up to $1.5 million in bridge financing. The funds will be used for product manufacturing, sales and marketing.
“I was drawn to Centice because it represents a combination of the best characteristics of all of my prior experiences – a team of winners, great technology vision, and a market that has a genuine need for the product,” Goehrke said in a statement. “Centice delivers a superior product and I’m excited to lead the next stage of growth.”
In March, the Morrisville-based company closed on an $8 millionseries D round included both new and existing investors. The financing includes equity investments as well as conversion of debt.
A year afo, Centice announced it had raised $1 million in convertible debt financing. Centice has developed devices that identify chemicals in a given sample. The technology was originally developed for pharmacies. By verifying a drug’s identity, the device would reduce prescription errors.
In 2011 Centice started to expand its scope to include law enforcement. The company has since brought to market devices that police and narcotics officials can use to identify controlled prescription drugs and illegal narcotics.
Centice said the “D” round will be used to increase sales and distribution of its mobile narcotics identification system as well as to develop new products. The mobile product, called the Mobile Field La-3000, enables officials to quickly identify more than 3,600 controlled prescription drugs, street narcotics and agents used to cut drugs. The technology brings to officers in the field drug analysis capabilities that had previously been available only in laboratory settings.
Centice’s technology is based on research from Duke University. The company was founded in 2004.
