Oculi Receives $1 Million in Investment; Five Additional Companies Secure Follow-on Investments
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NYS Investment Complements "Finger Lakes Forward" – the Region's Comprehensive Strategy to Revitalize Communities and Grow the Economy
Photo and Video of Luminate NY Competitors Available Here
Governor Kathy Hochul today announced Oculi as the winner of Round Six of the Luminate NY optics, photonics, and imaging startup accelerator competition. Baltimore, Maryland-based Oculi received the "Company of the Year" Award at Luminate Finals 2023, which was held live at Innovation Square in downtown Rochester, and online. The company will receive $1 million in investment from New York State through the Finger Lakes Forward Upstate Revitalization Initiative. Oculi will use the follow-on funding to move its headquarters to Rochester, and to scale operations for mass production, expanding sales, and for developing advanced versions of its products. Luminate NY, which is administered by NextCorps, is the world's largest business accelerator for emerging companies that have technologies enabled by optics, photonics, and imaging. The Finals event marks the completion of the sixth year of the cohort-based program, which now has over 50 companies in its portfolio. As required by the award, all winners of the competition will commit to establishing operations in the region for at least the next 18 months.
“Thanks to Luminate NY, our state will continue to lead the nation on cutting-edge technological research,” Governor Hochul said. "The winners of the competition’s sixth round represent some of world’s most innovative businesses that are bringing transformative products in optics, photonics and the imaging supply chain to market. I congratulate this year’s winners, and remain committed to supporting the fast-growing, high-tech businesses and industries that will move New York forward.”
Oculi is redefining computer and machine vision with the world’s first smart programmable vision sensor, the Oculi SPU™ (Sensing and Processing Unit). It combines the efficiency of biology—more specifically the human eye—and the speed of machines to make computer vision faster and more efficient. By embedding intelligence in the sensor at the pixel level, the innovative chip has the power to transform smart devices across homes, offices, and vehicles. Oculi’s SPU is ideal for visual intelligence at the edge, such as gesture tracking, facial recognition, and low latency eye tracking.