November 14, 2013
The GRA Venture Fund and The Coca-Cola Company Invest in Lumense
Lumense Raises Series B, Plans to Bring Its Real-Time Sensor Platform to Production
Lumense, an Atlanta-based developer of real-time quality control sensors capable of continuously measuring the contents of gases and liquids, has raised a Series B round led by the GRA Venture Fund and The Coca-Cola Company. The funds will be used to move the company’s flexible and scalable sensor platform, and its initial products, into volume production.
“Lumense will enable its customers, across a wide range of industries and applications, to more easily, affordably, and proactively manage to the highest possible process control and quality assurance standards. We are excited to have led this investment, and to be partnering with The Coca-Cola Company,” said Diana Murphy, Managing Director of the GRA Venture Fund, LLC. Murphy has joined the Lumense Board of Directors. The GRA Venture Fund makes equity investments in companies that, like Lumense, are products of milestone-based grant and debt financing from GRA Ventures, a program within the Georgia Research Alliance that commercializes university-based technology.
Noted Atlanta angel investor and entrepreneur Leland Strange, and Norcross-based Intelligent Systems Corporation (NYSEMKT:INS), provided Series A funding to Lumense in 2012. They also participated in the Series B round, as did other new investors. “Lumense’s technology can optically sense multiple substances in parallel and in real-time. We recognized the potential for this technology early on, shortly after it was licensed from Georgia Tech. We are confident that the Lumense team, with this new investment, will successfully transition it to mass production and then ramp sales,” said Strange, who serves as Lumense’s Board Chairman and is also CEO and Chairman of Intelligent Systems Corporation.
Mike Slawson, Lumense’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “The high caliber of investors that Lumense has attracted is indicative of Lumense’s unique promise. We look forward to working with them to move our products into the factory in the coming year, and to becoming a leading supplier in the vast, untapped market for chemical sensors and the valuable information they provide.”
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