Chip startup Phononic Devices raises $5.5M from investors

Phononic Devices, a startup focused on semiconductor materials that can turn waste heat into power and others that produce cooling, has closed on $5.5 million in new financing.

The new equity round, which was disclosed in an SEC filing, drew five unidentified investors.

In Feb. 2011, Phononic raised $10 million.

Existing investors Venrock and Oak Investment Partners led the Series B round.

Phononic Devices had raised $2 million in its first round of institutional backing.

The company is based at N.C. State’s Centennial Campus.

The new funds will be used for commercialization of its existing technology as well as rapid prototyping capability and to hire more semiconductor device engineers.

Phononic Devices landed a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy in November 2009.