Germicidal Ultraviolet LED Start-Up Bolb Inc. raises $16 Million in Series A Round led by Fluxunit (Osram investment arm)
LIVERMORE, Calif., Feb. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Bolb, Inc., the leader in high-output, high-efficiency ultraviolet c-band (UVC) light emitting diodes (LEDs), announced today a Series A investment of $16 million led by global LED leader Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH. Osram co-invests via its investment arm Fluxunit with other existing and new investors, including Southeast Asian UVC-Tech Group and Silicon Valley based venture firm Walden International. The financing will be used to fund expansion of Bolb’s manufacturing capacity, technology roadmap and global sales.
Dr. Ulrich Eisele, Managing Director of Fluxunit, will join Bolb’s board of directors.
“Bolb’s proprietary technology and platform have produced, by far, the world’s highest efficiency UVC LEDs,” said Jens Milnikel, Osram Opto Semiconductor, CEO of Illumination Product Line. “Our Series A investment will allow Bolb to significantly expand its business and fund additional engineering activities to advance its product roadmap, which will allow Osram to foster its technology portfolio in this growing field of germicidal solid-state disinfection.”
“With decades of experience in semiconductor components manufacturing, and a global leading position in LED technology and applications, Osram is an ideal partner as we start to scale our business globally,” said Dr. Jerry Zhang, co-founder, CTO, Chairman of Bolb. “We’re excited to have a partner on board that provides us not only capital, but also vast industrialization experience.”
Founded in August 2014 in Livermore, CA, Bolb utilizes a proprietary epitaxial platform to produce the world’s only fully transparent UVC LED epitaxy stack, providing an unparalleled foundation for advancing their UVC LED performance roadmap, leading to new products which will transform germicidal/virucidal applications, just as visible LEDs have transformed lighting and displays. Bolb’s UVC LEDs are world leading, delivering up to 200mW of performance per emitter and exhibiting safe deactivation of lethal pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, in shortest possible time.
“The COVID pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has awakened the world to the need for safe, effective, on-demand, point-of-use germicidal/virucidal solutions that are non-poisonous and do not involve chemicals,” said Dr. Ling Zhou, co-founder and CEO. “UVC LEDs are the critical building blocks for such solutions, and we look forward to expanding delivery of these crucial components, with ever-improving performance and cost-of-ownership, to our customers and partners worldwide.”
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