Augmentiqs Added to List of New York Microscope Technology Companies After Winning Coveted Spot in Luminate Accelerator Program
Augmentiqs joins the list of New York microscope technology companies after having been selected to participate in the second cohort of Luminate NY— the world’s only accelerator program for startups with optics, photonics and imaging applications. Augmentiqs, an Israel-based developer of digital microscopy technologies, will join nine other businesses in fast tracking the commercialization of their technologies. The startups competed against 70 companies from around the world, and were selected after pitching their businesses to an advisory panel comprised of renowned industry experts. The Luminate Lightning Awards competition took place at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY.
As part of its entry into the accelerator, Augmentiqs will receive an initial investment of $100,000, and will participate in a six-month program, which begins January 2019. In late June, the ten startups will compete in a Demo Day event for $2 million in follow-on funding. The $10 million Luminate NY program is funded by the Finger Lakes Forward Upstate Revitalization Initiative, and is being administered by NextCorps.
Luminate aims to assist entrepreneurs who are interested in solving challenging industry problems, including, but not limited to: machine vision, inspection, biophotonics, security, surveillance, augmented and virtual reality, and autonomous vehicles. Augmentiqs’ technology consists of an electro-optical module that integrates within existing microscopes, enabling augmented reality of the eyepiece and the running of CAD and other software applications during the routine pathology workflow.
In addition to Augmentiqs, Cohort II will be comprised of the following innovative startups:
• Circle Optics– New York, NY
• Kura Tech– San Francisco, CA
• Lumedica Vision– Durham, NC
• Mango teQ LTD– Auckland, New Zealand
• Neurescence– Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Opalux– Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• The Organic Robotics Lab– Syracuse, NY
• Ovitz– Rochester, NY
• VPG Medical, Inc.– Rochester, NY
Gabe Siegel, co-founder & CEO of Augmentiqs stated, “Augmentiqs benefited greatly from Israel’s start-up ecosystem, developing an innovative optical technology and reaching initial sales. Being accepted to Luminate NY, which is specifically focused on early-stage optics is exactly what we needed to take our company to the next level. We are looking forward to working closely with the Luminate team, opening up US operations, and taking advantage of everything Rochester and New York State have to offer.”
Luminate NY is building on the U.S. Department of Defense-led American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics, which is supported by a $250 million commitment from New York State and is based in Rochester at the state-of-the-art AIM manufacturing facility located in On Semiconductor at Eastman Business Park. The facility will be used to test, assemble and package chips that use photons in place of electrons for increased performance of semiconductor circuits.
For more information on Augmentiqs, go to augmentiqs.com. To learn more about Luminate, visit luminate.org.
