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Boris Kobrin Starts His 2nd Tri -Valley Company to Reinvent Glass We spoke with multi -time founder Boris Kobrin, Ph.D. about Why he chose the Tri - Valley as home to two of his businesses. Boris founded his first company Applied Microstructures in 2003 and headquartered it in San Jose. The company pioneered Molecular Vapor Deposition, a process in Which ultra-thin films are layered to provide a protective layer for MEMS devices. His other two co-founders Were from Silicon Valley so he felt he had no choice at the time. "I commuted 45 minutes in the morning and sometimes 1.5 hours at night for years. It was a horrible feeling." The company was sold to SPTS Technologies in 2o16. In 2008, he started his second company, Rolith, which developed proprietary nanolithography technology, and headquartered it in Pleasanton "The second time I did it locally and I've managed to cut my commute down to seven minutes each way." The reverse commute allowed him to hire a number of senior technologists who Lived in Silicon Valley. "We hired a number of people from Berkeley, Palo Alto even Texas. After a while many of them even ended up relocating [to the Tri - Valley]." The company raised $5 million from overseas partners and VCs and later sold to MetamateriaLTechnologies in 2o16. 31 After the sale Boris, along with his previous co-founder Julian Zegelman, immediately started his third company Innovasonic, again in the Tri -Valley. This time, Boris is developing next -generation ultrasonic glass technology to enable point -based self-cleaning glass. He believes this technology could have disruptive applications across the solar, autonomous vehicle and haptic display industries. "We're developing a technology that Will enable many of the smart materials and smart devices of the future Whether that be solar panels that can clean themselves, electronic displays that you can actually feel, smart windows. You are going to see this technology everywhere." Innovasonic is currently fundraising for series Seed capital. The company has secured a significant portion from strategic investors and is in partnership talks with leading glass manufacturers.