Lumotive Sees Investment; Kopin Restructures Via Partial Unit Spinout: Week in Brief 01/06/23

Sensor technology company Lumotive secured additional funding from new investors USAA and Uniquest in a $13 million round of strategic funding led by Samsung Ventures, bringing the total amount raised to date to more than $56 million. Lumotive will use the funding to accelerate the development and customer delivery of optical semiconductor devices for the next generation of lidar technology.

Lumotive’s Light Control Metasurface beam steering chips. Courtesy of Lumotive.

DANVERS, Mass. — Neurologica, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, partnered with the University of Dundee (Scotland) to collaborate on research using the OmniTom Elite with Photon Counting Detector computed tomography imaging technology. The work will use the technology to analyze differences in patients’ tissue characteristics and to enhance image quality and resolution of current imaging practices.

Neurologica’s OmniTom Elite with Photon Counting Detector computed tomography imaging technology. Courtesy of Neurologica.

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. — Kopin Corp., a developer and provider of transmissive and reflective active-matrix LCD, OLED, and inorganic LED microdisplays, entered into a technology license agreement with Lightning Silicon Technology, a company formed by John Fan, Kopin’s chair and former CEO, to develop and supply advanced OLED microdisplays for the consumer AR and VR markets. Under the terms of the agreement, Lightning Silicon will receive a license to certain Kopin intellectual property to develop, manufacture, and sell OLED technologies for use in the consumer market. Kopin will receive an equity interest in Lightning Silicon and royalties from the sale of products related to the licenses.

ALISO VIEJO, Calif. — indie Semiconductor established a strategic partnership with Seeing Machines, a computer vision technology company, to complement development of advanced vision processors for driver and vehicle occupant monitoring. The partnership seeks to address key challenges for driver and occupant monitoring and simplify compliance with regulatory requirements and safety standards by combining indie Semiconductor’s sensing technology and Seeing Machines’ Occula Neural Processing Unit platform.

SYDNEY — Automotive safety company Veoneer invested in lidar technology company Baraja, extending an existing partnership. The extension follows news of an advanced development agreement with a major automotive original equipment manufacturer, Baraja said, as it progresses its validation of its next-generation Spectrum HD25 lidar product developed specifically for automotive integration.

DARESBURY, England — Quantum Science, manufacturer of the INFIQ quantum dot technology, bolstered its production capacity by expanding into a second laboratory at its Daresbury site. Serving as a high-volume manufacturing facility, the new laboratory will feature specialist equipment including a highly precise automated reaction system, which will help Quantum Science upscale its production to serve millions of shortwave infrared (SWIR) sensors each year.

MONTBONNOT-SAINT-MARTIN, France — Deformable mirrors and adaptive optics company ALPAO partnered with Australian Astronomical Optics (AAO) and ONERA to conduct a competitive Phase A study for the design of a laser tomographic adaptive optics (LTAO) bench for the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii. This study is funded through an agreement between AAO and the American consortium AURA, which operate Gemini for the National Science Foundation (NSF). The 12-month project includes the dimensioning, the analysis of the performances of the adaptive optics, and the development of the calibration and operation procedures of the laser tomographic adaptive optics system for the Gemini North Telescope.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. —The deadline to apply for Cohort 6 of the Luminate NY accelerator is Jan. 9. Luminate NY is a business accelerator and investment fund for early-stage companies working on solutions enabled by optics, photonics, or imaging. The next cohort’s participation in the accelerator will be mostly remote, with select weeks in person for pitches to investor groups.