Empire State Development has announced the selection of ten startups for the ninth cohort of Luminate NY. Chosen from a competitive pool of 138 applicants across 33 countries, these selected companies represent a variety of industries, including life sciences, augmented and virtual reality, advanced manufacturing, and sensing technologies.
The 2026 cohort is set to commence a six-month programme on April 13 in Rochester, with each startup receiving an initial investment of $100,000 to support their growth and efforts towards commercialisation. At the conclusion of the programme on September 30, the startups will compete for up to $2 million in follow-on funding.
Administered by NextCorps and supported through the Finger Lakes Forward Upstate Revitalisation Initiative, Luminate NY aims to accelerate the commercialisation process by connecting founders with the region’s extensive technical expertise, supply chain resources, and industry partners.
The startups selected for this year’s cohort demonstrate a diverse range of applications enabled by optics and photonics innovations. Technologies under development include advanced pulsed lasers, CMOS-compatible light sources, AI-driven medical devices, diamond-based materials platforms, and next-generation additive manufacturing systems. Other noteworthy innovations feature ultrathin fibre-based microscopes, real-time biomolecular sensing platforms, and novel approaches to augmented reality display and optical lens design.
“This cohort underscores Luminate NY’s position as a premier global destination for deep-tech innovation,” stated Sujatha Ramanujan, managing director of Luminate NY. “By connecting visionary founders with the Finger Lakes region’s unmatched optics and photonics ecosystem, we are accelerating the commercialisation of transformative technologies while strengthening the region’s leadership in this critical industry.”
Selected Startups for the 2026 Cohort
- AB Photonics (Guilford, Connecticut) — Developing advanced pulsed laser technology that combines affordability with intuitive operation for end-users.
- Brightlight Photonics (Cambridge, Massachusetts) — Revolutionising CMOS-compatible laser sources for biomedicine, metrology, and quantum technologies.
- Ciconia Medical (San Diego, California) — Enhancing women’s childbirth experiences and outcomes through the first AI-based medical device for vaginal exams.
- Diamond Quanta (Mountain View, California) — Building the first scalable engineered-diamond platform, enabling coatings, substrates, and active devices across consumer, automotive, aerospace/defense, and quantum photonics.
- Gekko Photonics (Wroclaw, Poland) — Enhancing product quality with non-invasive tools that utilise Raman spectroscopy to monitor chemical reactions in real time.
- HyperVision LTD (Haifa, Israel) — Addressing Virtual Reality/Mixed Reality human vision-related challenges through proprietary, very-wide-view pancake lens architecture.
- Manifest Technologies Global (Boulder, Colorado) — Overcoming challenges in advanced manufacturing through Parallax Volumetric Additive Manufacturing technology, a breakthrough platform that fabricates complex parts in a single, continuous step.
- Modendo (Boulder, Colorado) — Offering ultrathin microscopes comprising a single optical fibre that provide high-resolution imaging for industrial and medical applications.
- Phlotonics (Rochester) — Empowering advanced biomanufacturing and drug discovery through advanced photonic sensor platforms that provide real-time, label-free biomolecular analysis.
- Smith Displays Limited (Southampton, United Kingdom) — Transforming Augmented Reality (AR) displays with a novel approach using nonlinear wavemixing technology.
Since its inception, Luminate NY has invested a total of $23 million in 85 startups. These companies have collectively raised an additional $497 million and now represent an estimated combined value of $725 million. The programme has also played a significant role in attracting companies to establish U.S. operations and expand research and manufacturing within the Rochester region.