Lunewave Announces $7 Million in New Investment
Lunewave, manufacturer of specialized, 3D-printed Luneburg lens antennae and radar, announces $7M in Series A investment.
FM Capital led the investment round with new investors including Proeza Ventures, Blue 9 Capital, Tsingyuan Ventures and Intact Ventures. Lunewave is also funded through National Science Foundation grants.
“As we continue to actively work with Tier 1 suppliers to establish strategic partnerships to jointly deliver a mass-produced Lunewave radar sensor, I am grateful for the strong support from FM Capital and our other investors ,” said John Xin, Lunewave co-founder and CEO. “Lunewave offers a significant enhancement for ADAS and autonomous vehicle applications for automakers and ride-hailing companies as well as the last-mile delivery, commercial trucking and construction industries.”
Founded in 2017 with ties to the University of Arizona, Lunewave is a technology company developing disruptive antenna and radar sensor technology by leading experts in millimeter wave frequency engineering. Products are geared toward a variety of markets including automotive, telecommunications, and research for applications such as autonomous transportation, wireless communications, and robotics.
The 3D printed Luneburg lens – now its third version in less than three years — offers broad bandwidth, high gain and capability of forming multiple high-quality beams in all directions. Two Lunewave radar sensors could replace 20 radar sensors used today, while providing greater resolution and performance across a wide field-of-view.
“Lunewave’s ability to drive down the cost of sensors required while increasing their effectiveness is great news for the auto industry, but it’s even better news for the safety of our highways, roads and pedestrians,” said Mark Norman, managing partner of FM Capital. “Our firm is committed to driving both financial returns for our investors, but also societal returns for our communities, which is why we’re so excited about Lunewave.”
“We believe that ADAS and AV systems will continue to make their way into vehicles, leading to a strong growth in radars as they are a core component of both systems,” said Rodolfo Elias Dieck, managing director, Proeza Ventures. “In Lunewave, we see a company with a differentiated technology that provides a high-performance radar that meets and surpasses the ever-increasing requirements for the automotive industry as stricter safety features are needed to comply with regulations.
Lunewave, with its savvy and technically strong team, really has an opportunity to penetrate this market because it provides a generational technology based on a paradigm-breaking concept that is vastly superior to current offerings at a time when the automotive industry is going through a transformation.”
Lunewave radar offers a 180-degree field of view in the azimuth (horizontal) plane and can detect objects surrounding a car with six times the resolution available today, even at long range and in poor weather, capabilities that are normally only achievable with multiple sensors.
Lunewave was selected as one of the winners for 2020 PACE Pilot award by Automotive News. Lunewave was also honored as Arizona Innovator of the Year by the governor’s 2020 Celebration of Innovation Awards. Lunewave was recognized as one of the Top 100 Startups across the globe by EETimes.
See Lunewave’s technology in action here Lunewave Product Video
