Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
Voyant Photonics, a US-based miniaturised lidar sensor developer exploiting Columbia University research, has obtained $4.3m in a round backed by the US Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency, Contour Venture Partners and LDV Capital. Spun out of Columbia University’s Lipson Nanophotonics Group, Voyant Photonics aims to commercialise a chip-based lidar sensor – a laser-powered detection system based on similar principles to radar – that would be small enough to hold on one fingertip. Voyant’s approach relies on a technique known as silicon photonics to carefully manipulate the passage of light within the chip so the light can be overlayed on vast backdrops without being visible. Voyant Photonics was co-founded by Steven Miller and Chris Phare, formerly of Columbia’s nanophotonics lab as postdoctoral researcher and visiting researcher respectively.
iCRX, a US-based eyewear prescription technology developer spun out of University of Arizona (UA)’s Wyant College of Optical Sciences, received an…
