China's Lattice Power raises $80m Series D round

Existing investors GSR Ventures, Mayfield Fund and Crescent HydePark also participated.

Based in Nanchang, Lattice makes lost cost LED chips using silicon, whereas other manufacturers might use more expensive materials such as sapphire or silicon carbide. While other firms have attempted to make silicon-based LED chips, Lattice claims to be one of few whose products achieve comparable performance to more expensive alternatives.

According to AVCJ Research, GSR and Mayfield were among Lattice's earliest backers when they invested $10 million in the company in 2006 alongside AsiaVest Partners. AsiaVest and Mayfield returned with $40 million alongside KPCB China Management and Temasek in 2007, before an additional $55 million was invested by GSR, International Finance Corporation, HydePark and AJIA Partners in 2010.

With this latest round of funding, the company is looking to expand into the US by opening an R&D center and a manufacturing facility.

"We are the only company in China that has systematically invested in research and development," Sonny Wu, managing director with GSR Venture and executive chairman with Lattice, told the Wall Street Journal. "We solved a problem the Germans, the Koreans and the Americans can't solve."

According to Wu, Lattice generated about $33 million in revenue last year and plans to double it this year, and again in 2015. The firm claims its LED products cost 30% less than those of its competitors while still maintaining 40% gross margins.

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