Lunera Gets New Funding, New CEO

LED lighting firm looking to replace fluorescent fixtures.

Eric Wesoff December 06, 2011

Eric Wesoff

Editor-at-Large
Greentech Media

Eric Wesoff is Editor-at-Large at Greentech Media. Prior to joining GTM, Eric Wesoff founded Sage Marketing Partners in 2000 to provide sales and marketing-consulting services to venture-capital firms and their portfolio companies in the alternative energy and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Wesoff has become a well-known, respected authority and speaker in these fields.

His expertise covers solar power, fuel cells, biofuels and advanced batteries. His strengths are in market research and analysis, business development and due diligence for investors. He frequently consults for energy startups and Silicon Valley's premier venture capitalists.

Last year, about this time, Karen Owyeung, an executive with years of experience in optics and manufacturing, was appointed CEO of Lunera Lighting, a VC-funded LED luminaire startup.

In what is hopefully not going to be an annual tradition for the company, Michael Keddington was just appointed the new CEO of the Redwood City, California-based firm, according to the San Jose Business Journal. Keddington previously served as CEO of Permlight Products, a vendor of LED light engines used in architectural, commercial and signage applications. Doug Hickey, formerly a partner at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and CEO of Critical Path, was named executive chairman of the board.

An SEC Form D, spotted by peHub, shows that Lunera Lighting just added $14.3 million of a $23.2 million venture round. The new funding and the new CEO likely are not unconnected events. Previous investors in the firm include The Westly Group, RCG Ventures, and Navitas Capital.

Lunera looks to replace fluorescent fixtures in commercial buildings with LED-based luminaires with the potential to lower operating costs for building owners and enhance worker productivity.

According to the firm's website, Lunera also offers financing options and utility rebate information through its Lunera Capital Plus arm.

The company has managed to land a number of its luminaires in government offices and commercial buildings. An earlier figure had the company's fixtures lighting over 2 million square feet of commercial real estate.

The company's fixture looks to eliminate two of the weaknesses -- glare and hot spots -- associated with LED light fixtures by using wave guides to channel the light uniformly.

As a testament to the rising prevalence of networked lighting fixtures, Lunera offers products that interface with Redwood Systems, Adura, and Emerge.