Lumotive eyes new frontiers after $45M series B investment

Total funding now tops $100M as a raft of new investors back the developer of light-controlling metasurfaces.

Lumotive, the US-based optics startup that has developed beam-steering metasurfaces for applications including 3D sensing and lidar, says that it has raised $45 million in a series B round of venture funding.

The Redmond, Seattle, firm received support from several new investors in the form of Swisscom Ventures, East Bridge, EDOM, Grazia, Hokuyo Inc., and TSVC. Lumotive said that the oversubscribed round also saw the return of existing investors including Gates Frontier, MetaVC Partners, Quan Funds, USAA, and HiMax Inc.

The additional funding is set to support a sales drive aimed at novel applications for what the firm calls its “Light-Control Metasurface (LCM)” technology, including the zeitgeisty areas of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and optical satellite links.

‘Programmable optics’
Created out of research initially carried out at the Center for Metamaterials and Integrated Plasmonics at Duke University and Intellectual Ventures by CTO and founder Gleb Akselrod, the company briefly went under the name Holosense Technologies before adopting Lumotive in 2018.

After seed funding by Bill Gates and other early backers the company announced a $13 million venture round in 2023, and said at the time that it had raised $56 million overall. The series B effort indicates that the total now exceeds $100 million.

‘Programmable optics’
Created out of research initially carried out at the Center for Metamaterials and Integrated Plasmonics at Duke University and Intellectual Ventures by CTO and founder Gleb Akselrod, the company briefly went under the name Holosense Technologies before adopting Lumotive in 2018.

After seed funding by Bill Gates and other early backers the company announced a $13 million venture round in 2023, and said at the time that it had raised $56 million overall. The series B effort indicates that the total now exceeds $100 million.

Pär Lange, an investment partner at Swisscom Ventures, said: “Lumotive's unique technology represents a fundamental advance in optical semiconductors. Their proven success in automotive and industrial markets, combined with their ability to precisely control light at the chip level, enables applications that were previously impossible.”

Thus far the firm has aimed the technology at industrial 3D sensing, autonomous lidar systems and augmented reality (AR) markets. Recent developments have included a strategic partnership with E-Photonics, a manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia focused on solid-state lidar and 3D sensing.

Others to have demonstrated applications or products based around Lumotive’s beam controllers include Sony, Hokuyo, Lattice Semiconductor, and the Korean camera module firm Namuga.

And as recently as December Lumotive announced details of a partnership with “AI solutions” developer MulticoreWare that targets potential applications in autonomous vehicles, robotics, smart cities, ‘Industry 4.0’, and drones.

Strategic areas
Commenting on the latest round of investor support, Lumotive CEO Sam Heidari said: “This funding marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of programmable optics. Our LCM technology has already driven innovation across autonomous vehicles, advanced robotics, and industrial applications. With this new investment, we will accelerate sales in other new markets, particularly in AI data centers and satellite communications.”

More specifically the additional cash is aimed at accelerating growth in three strategic areas: a global market expansion of operations; applications in AI data center infrastructure; and deployment in aerospace and defense applications.

“The company is scaling its operations worldwide to meet growing demand from customers and partners in critical industries,” announced the firm. “By strengthening its international presence, it will provide responsive, localized support and customized solutions tailored to specific technical and business needs.”

For data centers, the idea is to advance high-performance optical switching, which is seen as one of the potential ways to both push computing performance and improve power efficiency.

Lumotive’s beam-steering technology is said to enable ultra-reliable optical circuit switches with thousands of ports and rapid switching speeds, addressing the demands of hyperscale and AI-driven networks.

“This technology is being deployed to support AI model training, real-time analytics, and energy-efficient hyperscale infrastructure management,” reports the company.

For aerospace and defense, the plan is to advance next-generation optical semiconductors to provide secure communications, advanced sensing, and mission-critical precision.