Arbor Photonics gets VC boost from The Wolverine Fund

Wednesday, March 11, 2009 | Source: Concentrate

The venture capital continues to pour into Ann Arbor's Arbor Photonics. The latest bucket of cash to fall into the lap of the laser firm comes from The Wolverine Venture Fund, the venture capital firm run by University of Michigan business students.

The amount invested has not been made public, but Arbor Photonics has accepted millions of dollars in investments from the Michigan Pre-Seed Fund and the Michigan 21st Century Job Fund since last fall.

The money is expected to help build the prototype of the company's first product and hire staff to develop it. Arbor Photonics just hired a new Vice-President of Engineering last month and expects hire more later this year.

The University of Michigan spin-off is developing a 3C optical fiber laser for the manufacturing sector. U-M Prof. Almantas Galvanauskas invented the technology that is expected to dramatically improve fiber lasers.

The technology is an optical fiber structure called Chirally-Coupled Core Fiber or 3C fiber. The 3C fiber significantly improves the performance of fiber lasers in industrial manufacturing, a $2 billion market that grows about 14 percent annually on average. The company plans to make the product available by 2010 and hopes to hit $50 million in sales within the next six years.

The Wolverine Venture Fund is part of the University of Michigan's Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies in the Ross Business School. The fund, the first to be run by students, is worth $3.5 million and has invested in more than 18 companies in industries like information technology, life sciences and alternative energy.

Source: University of Michigan and Phillip Amaya, CEO of Arbor Photonics
Writer: Jon Zemke