'Amazon, It Has A Lot Of Strategic Value For Us' — Lumotive Scores $59M With Backing From Amazon, Oman's ITHCA Group

When Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) writes a check to a startup, headlines follow. The excitement rises further when Bill Gates' Gates Frontier investment arm is already on the cap table.

Lumotive, a programmable optics startup based in Redmond, Washington, announced on July 22 that it has reopened its Series B round to add Amazon's Industrial Innovation Fund and Oman's ITHCA Group on its backers' list, boosting the total raised to $59 million. The company had previously secured $45 million in February, co‑led by Gates Frontier and MetaVC.

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Lumotive's Light Control Metasurface Chips Could Disrupt LiDAR Industry

Lumotive builds light control metasurface chips, which use nano‑scale pixels to steer and shape light electronically without moving parts. CEO Sam Heidari called the innovation "a paradigm shift… being able to manipulate the light electronically," according to TechCrunch.

These solid‑state chips are smaller, cheaper, and more scalable than traditional light detection and ranging systems, with potential applications in autonomous vehicles, robotics, and optical switching in data centers, TechCrunch reports. Lumotive says its approach enables faster, more reliable 3D sensing for industries that require high‑performance solutions.

According to TechCrunch, the startup began commercial chip sales in 2024, keeping its customer base intentionally small while proving its technology in real‑world deployments.

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"This strategic investment reflects our confidence in Lumotive's world-class technology and its potential impact on the region," ITHCA Group CEO Said bin Abdullah Al Mandhari said in a statement. "Lumotive's presence in Oman strengthens our innovation ecosystem and supports national priorities across telecommunications, AI, and smart infrastructure."

Amazon and Oman's ITHCA Offer More Than Just Capital

Heidari told TechCrunch that strong investor interest prompted Lumotive to reopen the round for the two backers, saying, "Amazon, it has a lot of strategic value for us… We do appreciate the relationship more than the money."

The Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund backs technologies that advance automation, robotics, and next‑generation industrial systems, according to Lumotive’s statement. The investment from ITHCA Group, Oman's sovereign tech fund, reflects alignment with the country's digital transformation goals and its initiatives in AI and smart infrastructure.

"With their programmable optical beamforming chips, Lumotive is building a critical foundation for the next generation of intelligent machines. We're excited to support their mission and see broad potential for their technology in industrial automation, robotics, and beyond," Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund Director Franziska Bossart said in the statement.

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Lumotive Expands With $59M to Scale Sales, Marketing, and R&D

Founded in 2018 and spun out of Intellectual Ventures, Lumotive has raised more than $100 million in venture capital. Heidari told TechCrunch about the company's commercial readiness, stating, "It's a proven technology in the field. We knew that there is a big demand for it. Not only can it work, it can work in a deployable fashion."

The latest funding, which also includes financing from Stifel Bank (NYSE:SF), adds to Lumotive's growing list of backers, such as EDOM, East Bridge, Grazia, HiMax (NASDAQ:HIMX), Hokuyo, Quan Funds, Swisscom Ventures, and TSVC, according to the statement.

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