Lumotive Closes Strategic Funding Round Led by Samsung Ventures
New Investment Will Speed Delivery of LCM™ Optical Semiconductors to Enable Lidar 2.0 for High-Volume Consumer, Mobility, and Industrial Markets
Seattle, WA – August 24, 2022 – Lumotive, the developer of Light Control Metasurface (LCM™) beam steering chips enabling the next generation of lidar, today announced that it has secured a round of strategic funding led by Samsung Ventures. The investment included contributions from new, strategic investors such as Himax Technologies Inc., as well as Bill Gates, Quan Funds and MetaVC Partners. Lumotive is planning to use the funding to accelerate the development and customer delivery of optical semiconductor devices that enable the next generation of lidar sensors. More than two dozen world-class companies are currently engaged with Lumotive to utilize the high-performance, small form factor, and low-cost advantages of the company’s LCM chips to develop next-generation systems for autonomy, automation, and augmented reality (AR) markets.
"Our optical semiconductor solutions are making it possible for a number of markets to quickly and cost-effectively implement advanced sensing capabilities in industry-changing products,” said Dr. Sam Heidari, CEO of Lumotive. “With the LCM technology, Lumotive is uniquely positioned to be able to address the broad range of requirements across consumer, automotive, and industrial sectors. Samsung Ventures is well-known for identifying companies with disruptive technologies. We are very excited to partner with them as we deliver scalable products enabling Lidar 2.0 across diverse market segments by addressing power, cost, and size requirements of consumer products as well as the performance needs of automotive products.
“Strategic investments made by prominent industry leaders like Samsung in promising lidar startups like Lumotive is great news for the mobility sensor sector,” said Mark Fitzgerald, Director, Autonomous Vehicle Service, at Strategy Analytics. “This funding round acknowledges the foresight of Lumotive’s semiconductor-based product strategy and it has the potential to give the company a measurable time-to-market advantage.”
About Lumotive https://www.lumotive.com
Lumotive’s transformative optical semiconductors are enabling “Lidar 2.0” for Consumer, Mobility, and Industrial markets. The company’s Meta-Lidar™ Reference Platform utilizes revolutionary beam-steering technology based on patented Light Control Metasurfaces™ and implemented in standard semiconductor manufacturing processes to deliver an unprecedented combination of best-in-class performance, cost, reliability, and size. Lumotive’s LCMs enable the industry’s first software-defined lidar with advanced perception capabilities. The company has received measurable industry acclaim with inclusion in the following rankings: Sensors Converge/Fierce Electronics 2021 Startup of the Year, Built In Seattle’s Best Small Companies to Work For, JMP Securities Efficient Fifty list of the most interesting private companies in industrial and energy technology, and EE Times’ Silicon 100: Emerging Startups to Watch. Lumotive’s Meta-Lidar™ Platform was recently recognized with two CES 2022 Innovation awards, a 2022 SPIE Prism Award, a Business Intelligence Group Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Award, and a prestigious Edison Award. Investors include Bill Gates, Quan Funds and MetaVC Partners.
About Samsung Ventures
Samsung Venture Investment Corporation was established to promote promising small and medium-sized companies engaging in the development of new technologies. Our collaboration is based on managerial know-how and trust, and actively investing in future-oriented businesses based on new and innovative technologies that are expected serve as new growth engines. Samsung Venture Investment Corporation manages investment and investment-related activities for Samsung affiliate companies. The investment mandate for Samsung Venture Investment Corporation tracks closely to the strategic priorities of Samsung affiliate companies' core operating divisions, and encompasses investments in semiconductors, displays, telecommunications, and consumer electronics.
Please visit our website for more in detail; https://www.samsungventure.co.kr/english_main.do