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Osram has announced that it will be acquiring LED Engin, a venture company offering high-power LED systems for specialty lighting applications, after the two parties agreed an acquisition deal. Based in San Jose, LED Engin has been sourcing most of the LED chips used in its products from Osram’s Opto Semiconductors subsidiary. Although the acquisition price was not disclosed, Osram said that LED Engin’s current annual sales amounted to around $10 million. The San Jose firm will be integrated into the professional and industrial applications section of Osram's speciality lighting led unit.
The high-power lighting systems that LED Engin provides are typically used in entertainment, horticultural, and medical lighting applications. They include relatively advanced approaches such as tunable white lighting to alter the correlated color temperature (CCT) of home or office lighting, according to the time of day or other environmental conditions. Other applications include restaurant, retail, museum, and gallery lighting, while the company also supplies systems for horticulture, and powerful UV LEDs for industrial applications including printing, curing and dentistry.
LED Engin’s expertise in UV lighting complements an area that Osram is looking to develop and expand commercially, partly through its involvement in a research project called “UNIQUE” that is being funded by the Bavarian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Media, Energy and Technology, and partly through a licensing deal with US-based materials firm Hexatech. Last month, Osram Opto Semiconductors said that the UNIQUE project was focused on the development of 260-280 nm emitters in the deep-UV spectrum – significantly shorter wavelengths than those used by LED Engin for printing and curing – for emerging applications in industrial disinfection. While the Osram division is focused on the deep-UV LED processing side for the UNIQUE project, glass and optics company Schott is developing a vacuum-tight package needed to protect the chips.
Founded back in 2004, LED Engin emerged from stealth mode two years later, with the launch of what it said at the time were the world's first ultra-small 10 W and 15 W LED emitters among 24 new products. In January 2013, the company raised $12 million in a series E financing round that included backing from China’s CEC Capital Management. Among the company’s earlier venture backers were NGP Energy Technology Partners, the WK Technology Fund, Partech International, Horizon Ventures, and Eyon Group, with LED Engin closing an $11 million series C round in October 2007, followed by a series D round for an undisclosed total in July 2010.
