Federal law requires the notice to be filed by companies that have sold securities without registration under the Securities Act of 1933 — often privately held, fast-growing companies that are raising capital.
Investors supporting Niobium include Fusion Fund’s Shane Wall, a Western U.S. venture capitalist.
This was Niobium’s first fundraising round, said Matt Farrell, the company’s chief operating officer. The company’s data encryption technology was ripe for this kind of investor support, company leaders believed.
“It was time,” Farrell said. “It was time to raise a (fundraising) round and go attack this market.”
He expects an increase in employment but declined to talk about specific numbers.
“Proceeds are intended to be primarily used for, among other things, working capital purposes,” Niobium said in the SEC filing. “As such, some proceeds may be used to pay the salaries / wages of related parties, but no proceeds are designated for such purpose.”
In July 2021, Galois Inc. announced the creation of Niobium Microsystems as a spin-out, devoted to the creation of secure microelectronic systems.
Portland, Ore.-based Galois, which opened its first Dayton office in 2017, is known for its work in assuring software validation, having heavy-hitters such as Amazon and DARPA on its customer roster. Some of the company’s research addresses performance, efficiency, and security concerns in microchip design. Nicrobium, based at 444 E. Second St. in downtown Dayton, was positioned to advance that work.
Last year, Kevin Yoder was introduced as Niobium’s president and chief executive, as well as a board member, the company said.
Trusted microelectronics is a Department of Defense priority. But nearly any business working in highly regulated industries where information must be protected can also be a potential customer.
Niobium works in the arena of keeping data encrypted and secure at all times.
“Niobium has already established itself as a leader in FHE (fully homomorphic encryption) and the market is getting significant attention from both customers and investors,” Yoder said last year.
FHE keeps data protected while also allowing it to be used in computations. There’s no risk of data leakage or data exposure, advocates of the technology say.
In a statement Thursday, Yoder thanked the company’s investors.
“We are grateful for the support they have shown in our team and their excitement in the progress we have made in the development of our SoC (system-on-chip) accelerator,” he said.
“‘System-on chip,’ here refers to Niobium’s integrated circuit that compresses all of a computer system’s required components onto one piece of silicon.
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