nLight secures $25.3 million investment

Industrial laser manufacturer nLight Corp. of Vancouver has received $25.3 million in investment funding, the company disclosed in a Thursday regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But the company did not indicate the source of the new funding or how it would be spent.

NLight CEO and President Scott Keeney said only that the company intends to build a factory in Vancouver. Keeney told The Columbian that he was working on details of an announcement in the coming weeks.

In its history, nLight had previously attracted more than $110 million in investment funding.

NLight was founded in Seattle in 2000 and relocated to Clark County in 2002. In 2013 it acquired Arbor Photonics Inc. of Ann Arbor, Mich., for an undisclosed price. That year it reported 450 employees worldwide — including 225 in Clark County and another 75 in Hillsboro, Ore. Keeney said he believes the company is the largest Clark County-based technology company.

NLight’s most recent product announcement, in March, was for nLIGHT alta, a next-generation family of industrial fiber lasers with power levels up to 3,000 watts.

Last month the company agreed to pay $420,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the federal False Claims Act between 2004 and 2013, allowing it to receive multiple government grants and contracts for which it did not legitimately qualify.

The investigation found that nLight improperly obtained grants from the Army, Navy, Air Force, NASA and Department of Energy under a Small Business Innovation Research program to further develop its laser technology, which has military and other applications of interest to government agencies. The government said it had no evidence that nLight failed to adequately perform the work required under the contracts and grants.