Last week, 27 semi-finalists pitched virtually to our advisory board members for a place in cohort 4. Startup teams from around the world shared their innovations in augmented/virtual reality, medical devices and imaging, displays and light sources, precision manufacturing and measurement, materials science, spectroscopy, and sensors. They fielded questions about their tech, team, business models, and what they hoped to accomplish as part of Luminate.
Our advisory board now faces the tough task of selecting 10 finalists from this impressive group. Who will make the cut? Stay tuned! We’ll be unveiling cohort 4 soon.
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From Our Advisory Board
Don Golini, Chairman of the Luminate Advisory Board and Founder of SANICA Ventures, shares his words of wisdom for startups in 2021:
“Doing a startup in any environment is really hard, and a pandemic can be devastating despite an entrepreneur’s best efforts. Having said that, many entrepreneurs operating in the ’new normal’ continue to find a path forward. In some cases, potential customers have more time on their hands and make themselves available for more robust customer discovery and exploration of new technologies.
The fundamentals still apply as the key criteria for a successful startup: strong team, compelling value proposition, competitive advantage, and sufficiently large market opportunity.”
Don’s go-to business books:
“My favorites are Moore’s Crossing the Chasm and Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma.
I also learned a lot from Thull’s Mastering the Complex Sale, and Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team nails the common ‘people’ challenges.”
SNAPSHOT: PORTFOLIO MILESTONES
Exciting news from Arovia. Meet Splay! Watch a video on the next evolution of the all-in-one portal display below, launching this year. Or get all the details here.
Way to go, Bounce Imaging! This cohort 1 startup was featured in Forbes for its throwable 360-degree camera that’s helping protect first responders and special operations personnel.
Congratulations to Organic Robotics Corporation! They took home $50,000 as the winner of the NFL’s 1st and Future pitch competition in the Innovations category. This Luminate cohort 2 startup’s Light Lace™ wearable tech is designed to use light to measure muscle fatigue and respiration. Their win scored them extra media coverage, including an interview with SportTechie.
Look out for SunDensity. Our $1M winner of cohort 3 was named an energy startup to watch in 2021 by Daniel Goldman, Clean Energy Ventures’ co-founder and managing director. Goldman said of SunDensity’s photonic smart coatings for utility solar power producers:
The thing we really love about this company is that it’s a very simple approach to radically increasing efficiency. Going from 20% efficiency to like 23-to-25%, people are looking for a quarter- to half-point increase in efficiency to drive costs down… [Such an improvement would be a] game-changer in disrupting that space.”
Read the full interview in pv magazine USA.
PODCASTS & MORE
Mergers & Acquisitions with Jay Kumler
President of global technology group Jenoptik Optical Systems and Luminate advisory board member, Jay Kumler, speaks with our Managing Director, Dr. Sujatha Ramanujan, about his transition from a startup founder to doing business internationally as part of a publicly traded company. Watch the video interview to get Jay’s insights from both the buy- and sell-sides of M&A, or listen on Spotify or iTunes.
Sujatha Ramanujan on LDV Capital Presents: Women Leading Visual Tech
LDV Capital’s Women Leading Visual Tech series showcases the leading women whose work in visual tech is reshaping business and society. Abigail Hunter-Syed spoke with Luminate’s Managing Director, Dr. Sujatha Ramanujan, about managing a crisis, fear of boredom, and a mission to revitalize the Rochester area.
“Every invention is limited by the question you ask. Your invention starts with a question.”
Read the shortened text version of the interview here. (Full video interview available at the bottom of the article.)
MEET THE TEAM
Leverage Your Connections, and Other Sales Tips from Our Director of Operations
If you’ve ever applied or reached out to Luminate, you know Andy Simon. But did you know that he led two Swedish music software companies, founded a dog toy startup, and wrote a #1 hit for a Japanese boy band? He’s helped multiple international brands expand to the U.S. and driven record sales. (And he’s crazy enough to enjoy skiing faster than 50 mph.) More about Andy Simon.
STARTUP SHOUTOUT
Neurescence, a Luminate cohort 2 startup, is emphasizing product features in a clever way. Take a look at comic strips from a recent newsletter.
Have you seen creativity from an optics, photonics, or imaging startup that deserves a shoutout? Let us know!
See You Next Month!
2020 brought unprecedented changes to our accelerator program and the companies we support — and we adapted as innovators do. As we move into a new year and recruit our fourth cohort, we’ll continue to stay flexible and offer the funding, programming, resources, and opportunities that will help our startups succeed.
Apply to Be Part of Cohort 4
Ready to make 2021 your startup’s year? Apply to be considered for Luminate’s next cohort by January 7. Finalists will receive an initial investment up to $100,000 and comprehensive support to speed the commercialization of your technology, plus the chance to compete for additional funding at the end of the program.
Questions about the process or whether you’re a fit? Get in touch with our Director of Operations, Andy Simon.
Congratulations, Sujatha!
Dr. Sujatha Ramanujan, Luminate’s Managing Director, was elected to The Optical Society’s Fellow Class of 2021 for outstanding leadership in the formation of optics and photonics industry clusters. OSA Fellows are members who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics and are selected based on contributions to industry education, research, engineering, business, and community.
Congrats, Sujatha, on this recognition, and thank you for your unwavering dedication to the optics and photonics industry!
PUBLICATION HIGHLIGHT
In Case You Missed It at FiO+LS and Quantum 2.0
The Optical Society debuted its Quantum 2.0 Conference as part of this year’s Frontiers in Optics and Laser Science APS/DLS (FiO+LS) Conference. Luminate Technology Program Manager, Dr. Damon Diehl, streamed as many virtual talks and presentations as his WiFi would allow and provided a recap of four technical papers on industry research findings. Check out his synopsis of these conference samplings that reflect how optics and quantum research are major drivers on the frontiers across a range of disciplines.
PORTFOLIO COMPANIES ARE HIRING
Luminate’s First Virtual Job Fair
Earlier this month, we hosted a virtual job fair to help a number of our portfolio companies fill openings from part-time internships to full-time positions. More than 50 students and new grads registered to attend this first job fair, and our participating companies logged off Zoom with connections to promising potential new hires.
Do you want to work with a startup in the optics, photonics, or imaging space? There are still opportunities available. Check out our job page to apply.
SEMINAR HIGHLIGHT
Rick Plympton on “What’s the End Game?”
Through our connections in the regional OPI ecosystem, we’re able to offer seminars to our cohort companies on a variety of subjects that are important to all parts of the startup journey — including the end. Last month, Rick Plympton, CEO of Optimax, a world leader in high precision optics manufacturer, shared his insights on succession planning and how to leave a legacy to be proud of.
While succession planning may be far in the future for many of the companies in our portfolio, Rick stressed the importance of thinking about it early on to attract and retain talent who are interested in long-term tenures. Optimax’s corporate culture of teamwork and innovation is shaped not solely by the objectives of its leaders but by its people, resulting in a dynamic, inclusive work environment. At Optimax, every team member is invested in the future of the company.
7 Succession Planning Tips
- Envision what you want your legacy to be. You can sell your business for a lot of money. More meaningful still, you can make an impact on the community by creating more jobs and contributing to a stronger local economy. Strengthening the community is a positive byproduct of wise succession planning.
- Avoid a rigid organizational structure. When you replace top-down management with something more organic, all team members can buy-in to the vision and make sure it works for everyone.
- Find out what is important to your team. And figure out what combination of options regarding succession planning will feel like a fit for them.
- Create jobs on an ongoing basis. Make sure you’re always looking to add new ideas and new blood to your team.
- Seek out opportunities to engage students. Get high school and even younger students excited about STEM. They are the future, and the earlier you involve them, the more invested they will become in your company.
- Give your team the ability to create value for your customers. Empower and nurture them in an environment where ordinary people can be rockstars.
- Think about how to give employees a piece of the pie. Inviting them to the table will help them feel invested in your shared success, today and tomorrow.
PORTFOLIO SHOUTOUTS
Double Helix Optics on Deck for SPIE CEO Interview Series
SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, boasts over 250,000 members representing almost 200 countries. In addition to the educational programs SPIE conducts each year, they recently added a CEO Interview Series during which key leaders from OPI companies discuss how their organizations are managing through the challenging times COVID-19 has created.
This month’s interview (Wednesday, October 28 at 3 PM EDT) will feature Leslie Kimerling, CEO and Co-Founder of Double Helix Optics, the $1 million winner of Luminate’s first cohort. Double Helix Optics’ technology allows for the visualization, tracking, and study of cell structures down to the level of the single molecule in 3D. Leslie will be interviewed by Evan Nisselson, General Partner and Founder at LDV Capital, about her path, her philanthropy, and what she thinks about the future.
Double Helix is also hosting a webinar next month (Tuesday, November 17 at 12 noon EDT) with Principal Investigator and Research Director, Dr. Valentina Emiliani of the Vision Institute in Paris. Dr. Emiliani will present work using holography with engineered phase masks for deep study of the brain and its circuitry.
Register for the Double Helix Webinar
SunDensity Secures $2.5 Million in Funding
Congratulations to Dr. Nish Sonwalkar and the SunDensity team for closing a $2.5 million investment round led by Clean Energy Ventures. SunDensity’s Photonic Smart Coating (PSC) can enhance the energy output of solar panels by 20%. Part of SunDensity’s raise includes $1 million from Luminate, awarded at Luminate Finals 2020.
PODCASTS
Kilo Medical Solutions
Luminate Director of Operations, Andy Simon, spoke with Kilo Medical Solutions’ Founder and CEO, Joshna Seelam, about how her team’s medical device technology is modernizing the NICU. Watch the video interview with this cohort 3 startup that took home the Audience Choice Award at Luminate Finals 2020 (a $10,000 investment).
AkknaTek
Dr. Damon Diehl, Technology Program Manager at Luminate, talked with Dr. Edgar Janunts, CEO and Founder of AkknaTek, one of two Honorable Achievement winners at Luminate Finals 2020 (a $250,000 investment). Watch the video interview focused on how AkknaTek’s Lens Reviewer is helping ophthalmologists improve patient satisfaction following cataract surgery.
Will You Join In?
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