Participated · Series B · Feb 2025

Lumotive pioneers programmable optics with its patented Light Control Metasurface (LCM™) platform, which turns photonics into a digital, software‑defined solution for sensing, switching, and communication. Its LCM technology is powering compact, solid‑state LiDAR and intelligent perception systems for autonomy, robotics, manufacturing, and smart infrastructure. The company says it holds more than 200 patents and is gaining commercial traction. Recent investments are intended to accelerate product deployments in industrial applications and expand its global market presence. Lumotive positions its semiconductor beamforming chips as a replacement for bulky mechanical optical components, enabling compact, software‑defined sensing for factories, robots, and logistics networks. Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, Lumotive is backed by a broad investor base that the company says will support scaling and commercialization efforts. Lumotive develops programmable optical semiconductors built around its patented light control metasurface (LCM™) chip, a software-defined photonic beamforming solid-state technology. The company says its technology improves perception, increases computing power, and enables reliable high-speed communication across multiple industries. Lumotive highlights applications including 3D sensing and AI computing. Led by CEO Sam Heidari, the company plans to accelerate sales growth of its LCM technology. Lumotive has identified three strategic areas for investment: global market expansion, data center AI infrastructure, and aerospace and defense. Lumotive develops Light Control Metasurface (LCM™) beam‑steering optical semiconductors that enable 3D sensing and software‑defined lidar. Its patented beam‑steering technology is intended to provide advanced perception capabilities for consumer, mobility, and industrial markets. Led by CEO Dr. Sam Heidari and based in Seattle, WA, the company produces optical semiconductor devices and chips. Lumotive raised $13M in a strategic funding round led by Samsung Ventures with participation from new investors USAA and Uniquest. The company will use the proceeds to accelerate development and customer delivery of optical semiconductor devices that enable next‑generation lidar sensors. The new investment brings the company’s total capital raised to more than $56M to date. Lumotive has developed a metamaterials-based lidar system that enables electronic beam steering to improve responsiveness, targeted illumination, and sensitivity compared with mechanically steered systems. The company’s chips are silicon-based, designed for fabrication with standard processes, and operate with ubiquitous 905nm lasers; devices can be sized or shaped for different platforms. In normal sweep mode the system can offer roughly a 20Hz frame rate with a 120×25° field of view and about 1000×256 resolution, while concentrating beam time on small regions for higher temporal and spatial fidelity. Lumotive emerged from Intellectual Ventures’ incubator and holds an exclusive license to IV’s metamaterials IP; its team includes CEO and co‑founder Bill Colleran. The product is currently in prototype but is showable as Lumotive pursues partnerships with automotive and tech firms. Financially, the company has run on a 2017 seed round funded by Bill Gates and Intellectual Ventures and is now seeking additional investment.

Led · Equity · Jun 2024

FOCI Fiber Optic Communications designs, manufactures and sells a range of high-performance fiber-optic components and integrated modules. Its main products include fiber couplers, PLC splitters, thin-film coarse WDM, dense WDM and multi-fiber cable assembly modules. The company focuses on optical component and module engineering and production for telecom and related markets. Recently it received a strategic equity investment that affects its ownership structure. The investment was implemented after the company’s board approved a private share issuance by the investor’s Taiwan subsidiary. The funding provides a capital infusion to support ongoing operations and product development.

Participated · Series A · May 2018

Kneron designs low-powered, reconfigurable ASICs for AI inferencing that interface with existing systems such as sensors on driverless vehicles. Its chips run models ranging from face and body detection to text generation and are positioned for latency-, security- and cost-sensitive edge applications. The company emphasizes automotive and other autonomous-machine markets while avoiding direct competition with dominant cloud incumbents in the short term. Kneron plans to scale commercial efforts and expand its R&D-heavy headcount. Revenue is in the "double digit millions," and the company serves roughly 30 brands including Garmin, Naver and Quanta. Through its April acquisition of imaging provider Otus, Kneron has automotive partnerships including JVC Kenwood. Kneron develops full-stack hardware and software products aimed at edge AI applications, with reconfigurable solutions designed to address latency, security and cost challenges on edge devices. The company says its technology enables broader deployment of AI across devices. Over the past year Kneron reported significant new customer wins across multiple verticals including smart vehicles, smart homes and smart cities. Named customers in the article include Garmin, Dessmann, Gree, OFILM, AAEON, Advantech and Quanta. Led by CEO Albert Liu, Kneron intends to use the funding to expand operations and broaden its business reach. The company raised $48M in a Series B funding round. Kneron is an AI chipmaker founded in 2015 that develops reconfigurable edge AI semiconductors for devices including ADAS and autonomous-vehicle systems. The company is based in San Diego and Taipei and has released its first automotive-grade chips for ADAS and AV applications. Kneron reports $3–4 million in monthly revenue from about 30 enterprise customers, with 30–40% of revenues coming from the U.S. It is pushing into smart transportation and roadside AI, arguing that L4/L5 autonomy requires roadside perception units, and plans joint development of roadside AI boxes with strategic partners. Its chips are described as 'reconfigurable', combining software flexibility with hardware speed and usable both inside vehicles and on exterior sensors. Kneron has formed partnerships and made acquisitions (including buying Vatics from Vivotek) and counts strategic investors such as Foxconn, Horizon Ventures, Alibaba, Qualcomm and Sequoia. The founder previously said the company expected to turn profitable in 2023 and has discussed a likely U.S. IPO, though management was later more circumspect about listing timing. Kneron develops low-power edge AI semiconductors and proprietary software that enable on-device data processing using neural processing units (NPUs), reducing reliance on cloud compute. Its chips target applications including manufacturing, smart homes, smartphones, robotics, surveillance, payments and autonomous driving. The company is extending into the smart car industry and has partnerships with Foxconn and Otus (a supplier for Honda and Toyota). Kneron agreed to acquire Vatics, an image signal processing provider from Delta Electronics’ Vivotek subsidiary, for $10 million in cash; Vatics executives will join Kneron to lead its surveillance and security camera division. The acquisition and NPUs are intended to let Kneron offer full-stack AI solutions and accelerate go-to-market for surveillance and automotive products. Kneron is headquartered in San Diego with a development force in Taipei. The company has attracted strategic investors including Foxconn, Qualcomm, Sequoia Capital, Alibaba and Horizons Ventures and recently received a $7 million investment from Delta Electronics, boosting total financing to over $100 million to date. Kneron develops AI chips aimed at "smart" consumer devices and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). The article identifies the company primarily by its hardware product line but provides no technical details about the chips. It reports a planned investment by MTS of about $10 million into Kneron. The piece does not outline Kneron's roadmap, commercialization plans, or financial metrics. Reader comments included in the article expressed skepticism about the technology and sourcing, and noted a lack of technical information in the coverage.