Take a look at the senior management team at laser technology firm
Raydiance Inc. and you see two former executives from one-time Internet
stalwart AOL LLC. But chairman and CEO Barry Schuler (pictured), who was chairman and CEO of AOL, and president
Scott Davison have learned enough about lasers to secure $20 million in
Series D funding for Raydiance, which has developed a number of
commercial applications for its ultrafast, short pulse laser platform.
The latest round of funding for the company was
led by Greenstreet Partners with participation from Draper
Fisher Jurvetson Growth Fund. DFJ led both the company's B and C
rounds, which totaled $25 million (Schuler is also a
managing director at DFJ Growth Fund).
"They say good entrepreneurs have to have a little naivete," Davison says. "If I knew how complex lasers were to develop I probably never would have gotten involved with it. But we brought on a lot of smart people who have done some very special things."
Raydiance was spun out of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an agency of the United States Department of Defense in 2004 that is responsible for development of technology for use by the military. Davison said both he and Schuler were recruited by DARPA, which felt that some of its technologies would be better served through an entrepreneurial model than in a government program or university research project.
Over the past two years, its customers have been developing
next-generation applications in ophthalmology, dermatology, gene
transfection, surgery, and homeland security and defense. Its lasers
will be used for next-generation eye surgery, heart surgery and other
surgical procedures that currently use lasers, including cancer
treatment.
"We believe this technology will revolutionize medicine,"
Davison said. "This will replace the scalpel eventually." --
David ShabelmanSee Nov. 19 press release from Raydiance
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