By Timothy Hay

Nano Terra Inc. said it has acquired Surface Logix Inc., merging two companies that came out of the same laboratory at Harvard University.

Terms of the all-cash deal weren't disclosed. Myer Berlow, chief executive of Brighton, Mass.-based Nano Terra, said all venture investors in Surface Logix have exited their investments.

Surface Logix, also based in Brighton, had raised more than $92 million from investors since 2002, VentureWire records show. Investors included ARCH Venture Partners, CW Group, HBM BioVentures, Healthcare Focus Fund, Intel Capital, TIAA-CREF, Unilever Technology Ventures and Venrock.

Attempts to reach several Surface Logix investors weren't successful.

Nano Terra received a $750,000 debt investment from Harris & Harris Group earlier this year. Equity funding has come from undisclosed individuals and angels, Berlow said.

Both companies sprung out of intellectual property developed in the Harvard laboratory of George Whitesides, a chemistry and nanotechnology luminary who has helped to found a slew of companies, including biotechnology company Genzyme Inc.

Both companies use nanotechnology to make coatings, but each has a different focus.

Surface Logix makes coatings for small-molecule pharmaceuticals that make the compounds more effective. The company helps to make drugs for obesity, hypertension and metabolic disease.

Nano Terra makes nanotech-based coatings for a range of other industries, including solar power and water purification. The company makes the coatings on demand for a variety of customers, but it doesn't disclose many details about the projects it has completed.

One project involved getting better performance out of solar panels, Berlow said. Customers of the company have included Merck & Co. Inc., 3M Co. and Boeing Co.

Nano Terra will take on several top employees from Surface Logix, Berlow said.