LEADOPTIK Receives Investment from Applied Ventures

New investment adds to recent $5 million venture funding to speed development of lung cancer detection product using advanced metasurface technology 

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LEADOPTIK Inc., a Silicon Valley-based medical imaging company today announced that it has secured venture capital funding from Applied Ventures, LLC. This new injection of capital augments a recently announced $5 million over-subscribed seed venture funding round led by MetaVC Partners with participation from SOSV, Sony Innovation Fund, TSVC, ENEA, and others. This will allow LEADOPTIK to move to the next stage of product development, including FDA approval, on the path to commercialization.

"We are excited to be an investor in LEADOPTIK," said Yuan-Ping (YP) Huang, Principal of Applied Ventures, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials, Inc. "We see metamaterials, particularly optical metasurfaces and flat optics based on materials engineering capabilities, enabling a new wave of innovative products that can be smaller, faster, and less costly than traditional optics."

LEADOPTIK is developing a miniaturized imaging system that aims to herald a completely new level of real-time imaging deep inside the human lung, enabling early diagnoses of cancer. Combining novel nanofabrication of metasurface technology, the company's product is designed to empower surgeons to view objects that are fifty times smaller than what is possible with current imaging systems, leading to earlier and better detection.

By using proprietary optics made from dielectric metasurfaces, LEADOPTIK has shrunk the optical elements to a size comparable with that of human hair. Due to its unprecedented small size, driven by advanced imaging software, the probe can travel through even the narrowest airways, allowing for real-time imaging and detection of tiny tumors. In addition, the small form factor of LEADOPTIK's probe allows its integration with biopsy needles, providing real-time guidance during biopsy procedures. This integration is critical for increasing the accuracy of biopsies, which are often performed blindly.

"Applied Ventures is an outstanding deep-tech investor and technology advisor for us," stated Reza Khorasaninejad, Founder and CEO of LEADOPTIK. "We are thrilled with this additional investment and the wealth of expertise that accompanies our collaboration with one of the global leaders in nanofabrication," he further emphasized.

About LEADOPTIK

LEADOPTIK Inc. is a deep-tech startup based in San Jose, California. This company is building a miniature imaging platform that will deliver an Image-Guided Biopsy for Early Lung Cancer Diagnosis. For more information about LEADOPTIK and its technology, please visit www.leadoptik.com.

About Applied Ventures

For more than a decade, Applied Ventures, LLC—the venture capital arm of Applied Materials, Inc.—has been turning possibilities into reality by investing in startups with disruptive technologies. Among the innovations we have helped to pioneer are smartphones, high-performance computing, augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR), driverless cars, big data, life sciences, robotics, cleantech, and advanced materials. Applied Ventures is stage agnostic and invests up to $100M per year. To date, we have invested in more than 90 companies in 18 countries. More information on Applied Ventures can be found on our website. 

SOURCE LEADOPTIK