RayVio Closes $9.3 million funding round
RayVio, a new UV LED company based in California, has just raised $9.3 million in Series B funding, with new investors including Applied Ventures, Augment Ventures, New Ground Ventures and Tolero Ventures.
Existing investors DCM Ventures and Capricorn Investment Group also contributed to the round. The capital will be used to accelerate RayVio's go-to-market strategy, grow its team, and enable mass adoption of UV LED solutions in the industrial, commercial and consumer sectors.
Until now, LEDs for UV applications have been limited to niche markets due to low performance, high cost and compromised reliability. RayVio has developed novel, patent-protected materials and technology, originally developed at Boston University by co-founders Yitao Liao and Theodore Moustakas.
RayVio exploits MBE to significantly improve the efficiency and power output of currently available UV-LEDs. Consisting of nitride semiconductor thin films deposited onto sapphire substrates, RayVio's UV-LEDs are compact, energy-efficient, durable and environmentally friendly"”characteristics that make them an attractive alternative to the standard, mercury-based UV lamps used in municipal water treatment facilities since the late 1970s."¨
"RayVio's patented technology is poised to disrupt the entire UV market by creating products that truly impact how we live - from purifying drinking water, to treating major illnesses, to instantly disinfecting surfaces any time, any where," said Robert C. Walker, CEO of RayVio. "This oversubscribed round is a great validation of our break through technology and it will enable us to significantly expand our team and reach critical markets globally."
RayVio's technology are claimed to enable a host of consumer applications previously limited by cost and performance - ranging from hand-held portable disinfection devices to point-of-use water disinfection faucets that enable safer drinking water for everyone.
"UV LED light sources will significantly affect the use of UV disinfection technology by enabling a myriad of affordable, point-of-use disinfection applications, thus improving public health better than before," said Andreas Kolch, Managing Director and Partner, Hytecon GmbH, and former President of the International Ultraviolet Association (IUVA)
"RayVio's technology is coming to market at a critical time," said Pete Moran, General Partner, DCM Ventures. "Access to clean water and the growing prevalence of infectious disease are creating a greater need for solutions that are portable, cost effective and address these problems. RayVio has hit the sweet spot of this formula with products that are now proven, and with the partners and customers that can scale globally."
