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Private Equity Firm Puts Money into Man-Made Diamonds
Huron Capital is backing Washington, D.C.-based WD Lab Grown Diamonds.
WD Lab Grown Diamonds created this 6-carat round diamond using the CVD method, and says it is the largest CVD-grown round on record. This week, the company announced a “significant equity investment” from Detroit-based private equity firm Huron Capital.
Washington—Huron Capital has made what it calls a “significant equity investment” in American man-made diamond company WD Lab Grown Diamonds.
WD Lab Grown Diamonds, based outside of Washington, D.C., makes lab-grown diamonds using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. Its diamonds are used not only for jewelry, but also for scientific and industrial purposes.
Huron Capital is a Detroit-headquartered middle-market private equity firm. It would not disclose financial terms of the new investment.
Clive Hill, the founder and CEO of WD, said in a press release: “The Huron Capital investment is expected to help us significantly expand our capacity in the fast-growing, high-quality segments of both the gem and industrial markets, and build our base of trade partnerships.
“We believe we can provide the safest supply certainty for this technical product and the most consistent volume option for the biggest players in the gem market.”
WD is the company supplying the Richline Group with stones for its new lab-grown diamond brand called Grown with Love, which debuted at Macy’s and JC Penney this holiday season.
Michael Beauregard, a Huron Capital senior partner, added, “We believe WD’s exclusive technology and manufacturing capabilities place the company at the forefront of one of the fastest-growing segments of the diamond industry.”
The Carnegie Institution of Washington created the single-crystal CVD process WD uses to grow diamonds. In conjunction with the institution, WD licenses the patented CVD growing process globally.
Last January, the company revealed it had created a 6-carat diamond with the technology, claiming at the time that it was the largest round diamond on record to be produced using CVD.
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