Luminate to award $2M in follow-on funding to second cohort

Luminate’s Light Tomorrow With Today event will showcase 10 finalists pitching their optics, photonics, and imaging startups.

One team will be awarded $1 million in follow-on funding, with an additional $1 million available to be awarded to other finalist companies. Last year more than 500 attended the free event. Funding for the $25 million, five-year Luminate NY program is being provided through Empire State Development and the transformative Finger Lakes Forward Upstate Revitalization Initiative.

Scheduled for June 27 at the Big Tent during the Rochester International Jazz Festival, Luminate’s Demo Day is expected to attract entrepreneurs, researchers, academia, investors, students and businesses.

Luminate is the world’s largest business accelerator for startup companies in the optics, photonics and imaging (OPI) industries. Located in the NextCorps incubator at Sibley Square, the accelerator selects ten promising companies each year and provides comprehensive training and resources to advance their technologies and businesses.

The event is free, but registration is required in advance to reserve a seat: Light Tomorrow With Today.