The Luminate NY accelerator competition program for startups focused on optics, photonics, and imaging (OPI) enabled applications announced that The Optical Society (OSA) will return as a sponsor for its Finals 2021. The event will be held virtually Sept. 30, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT, and will be free and open to the public. Last year’s event saw 1500 people register to watch 10 companies introduce emerging technologies and pitch for up to $2 million in follow-on funding from Empire State Development’s Finger Lakes Forward Upstate Revitalization Initiative. The audience also had the opportunity to vote for their favorite team in the audience choice category, a distinction that comes with $10,000 in funding. Finals 2021 will follow the same format, and will also bring attention to the unique needs of women and underrepresented entrepreneurs. Renowned experts will add to the advice by providing quick tips for founders on funding, sales, IP, and dealing with venture capitalists and constant pressures. “There are many gaps that exist today for underserved or underrepresented founders. In 2019, Pitchbook reported that female-founded companies received only 2.7% of the total capital invested in venture-backed businesses in the U.S.,” said Sujatha Ramanujan, managing director of Luminate. “Luminate finals provides an international platform to highlight how we can provide better support across a number of areas so that all founders have the same opportunities to fund and scale their companies.” Among the panelists for the Women and Diversity in Entrepreneurship are Susan Houde-Walter of LaserMax Defense; Manjari Chandran, a deep-tech and software venture investor at IP Group; Marcia Lesky, senior director for diversity, inclusion, and volunteer cultivation at OSA; and Leslie Kimmerling, CEO and co-founder of Double Helix Optics, a 3D computational imaging company and winner of the 2018 Luminate competition. Companies in Luminate’s fourth cohort to pitch at the event include 2EyesVision of Madrid, Spain; Andluca Technologies of Princeton, N.J.; Dynocardia Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.; Infrascreen of Neuchatel, Switzerland; Layer Metrics Inc. of Wilmington, Del.; Mesodyne Inc. of Somerville, Mass.; Momentum Optics of Longmont, Colo.; OSCPs Motion Sensing Inc. of Montreal, Canada; Owl Autonomous Imaging of Rochester, N.Y.; and PreAct Technologies of Portland, Ore. More information is available at www.luminate.org. To register for the free event, visit EventBrite.