News: Optoelectronics
4 December 2020
NUBURU completes $20m Series B funding round
NUBURU Inc of Centennial, CO, USA, which specializes in high-power industrial blue lasers, has raised $20m in Series B funding to accelerate development of its high-brightness AI Series industrial product line and to expand its presence in the energy-storage, e-mobility and 3D printing markets.
Co-led by industrial technology investment firm Anzu Partners and by Thomas Wilson (chair, president & CEO of The Allstate Corporation), the round brings NUBURU’s total funding to nearly $50m. Wilson, along with Ron Nicol, former senior partner and managing director of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), will join Anzu managing partners David Michael and David Seldin on the board of directors.
NUBURU says that its blue lasers provide speed and quality control for metal processing operations, such as welding and additive manufacturing in growing industries such as e-mobility and automotive, where materials such as copper, stainless steel and aluminum are increasingly critical. Previous technologies are inflexible, slow and produce poor-quality metal joints, but the firm says that its industrial blue lasers leverage a fundamental physical advantage to produce defect-free welds up to four times faster than the traditional approaches, together with the flexibility inherent to laser processing.
The funding follows the executive appointments of Dr Guy Gilliland as chief executive officer and Chris Baldwin as chief financial officer. NUBURU reckons that, paired with the additional funding, their experience growing global technology companies sets it up for additional product innovation and progression into new markets in the coming year.
“NUBURU lasers drive superior manufacturing speed and quality in fast-growing sectors such as consumer electronics, batteries and electric vehicles,” says Gilliland. “This new funding allows us to advance our Denver-based automated production facility and accelerate development of our ultra-high-brightness product family,” he adds.
“The feedback we’ve received from our customers has been overwhelmingly positive and proven that our high-power and high-brightness blue lasers are a compelling option for processing aluminum, brass, gold and other challenging metals,” says founder & chairman Dr Mark Zediker. “We are now scaling operations to respond to this strong customer interest in migrating their processes to our blue laser technology.”
Wilson, who co-led the investment round and will join NUBURU’s board, is also chairman emeritus of the US Chamber of Commerce. Nicol is a senior advisor with BCG following a 30-year career where he led its global technology practice. He has advised many of the world’s largest electronics manufacturing companies. Nicol also has a degree in physics from the US Naval Academy. NUBURU reckons that their corporate development expertise and senior advisory roles will aid it as it expands its customer base.
“NUBURU’s differentiated blue laser technology solves key challenges in electronics manufacturing and is also positioned to address many other applications ranging from life sciences to the aerospace sector,” comments Nicol. “As blue technology continues to mature, NUBURU has a head start with its application expertise and strong IP portfolio that position the company for continued success,” reckons Wilson.
Industrial blue laser firm NUBURU appoints CEO and CFO
