De Beers Synthetic Subsidiary Opens Silicon Valley Office

While the company mass-manufactures industrial diamonds, it isn’t interested in producing gems, Susie Wheeler, managing director of Element Six Ventures, tells JCK.

“We have nothing to do with gems whatsoever,” she says. “We are focused on areas like clean-tech and industrial and electronic applications.”

The new office is designed to “find applications in markets for synthetic diamonds and other super materials,” she says. “Silicon Valley is the heart of 'R-and-D' and we are looking to find partnerships as well as other venture capital partners.”

Diamonds have proven particularly useful for industrial purposes because of their hardness, as well as their thermal and electro-chemical properties, Wheeler says.

Element Six also has offices in Houston and New York City.