RayVio is seeking to purify water, clean air of infectious diseases, and potentially treat illnesses from Psoriasis to Multiple Sclerosis. The company hopes to do it all with light.
The Hayward, CA-based company received $9.3 million of Series B funding for developing low-cost methods of using its ultraviolet light-emitting diode (UV LED) technology to do anything from sterilize airborne viruses to disinfect small batches of water at the point of use, like in a glass. Today, water disinfection by UV is expensive and only available at large equipment hubs, RayVio says on its website. The technology can also be used in industrial curing, the process of hardening or drying anything from inks to coatings.
RayVio’s method can potentially be used in handheld devices, the company said in a prepared statement, though it has kept quiet on exactly what products it has developed. RayVio plans to announce them later this year.
The company received the funding from new investors Applied Ventures, Augment Ventures, New Ground Ventures, and Tolero Ventures, with previous backers DCM Ventures and Capricorn Investment Group also contributing to the round. RayVio will use the money to develop its strategy for selling to the industrial, commercial, and consumer markets, the company said.
The decision to commercialize the technology began in October 2010, when researchers Yitao Liao and Theodore Moustakas were developing it at Boston University, said Milan Minksy, RayVio’s vice president of product, in April 2011.
