Happy New Year from the Harvard Innovation Labs! Our staff and incredible global network of judges are in the midst of reviewing hundreds of applications for the 2024 President’s Innovation Challenge, and we look forward to highlighting the semifinalists, finalists, and winners throughout the spring semester. But first, we want to recognize an incredible achievement from a former PIC winner.
Since receiving the 2017 PIC Grand Prize in the Open track, Lightmatter has become a leader in photonic computing, which involves the use of light instead of electricity for performing computations. In December 2023 — only six years after winning the PIC — the company, founded by Nicholas Harris and Darius Bunandar, announced $155 million in new funding at a unicorn valuation of $1.2 billion.
The Harvard Innovation Labs team is honored to have supported a number of ventures across a range of industries that have gone on to reach unicorn valuations. Six additional companies include care coordination platform CarePort Health, public safety software provider Mark43, battery company SES, AI pilot company Shield AI, shipping company Veho, and fitness wearables company WHOOP.
Keep up with the latest news from the Harvard Innovation Labs, like these recent accomplishments from current and former ventures, by signing up for our monthly Press 13 newsletter.
