Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which handles technology transfer for UW-Madison. Chicago-based Arch Venture Partners also provided financing to Alfalight, according to the fund’s website.
In addition, Alfalight received a number of grants from well-known agencies and firms before becoming part of G&H. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded Alfalight $3.9 million in 2003 and $4.7 million in 2006. The company also landed a $3.7 million contract from Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials in 2014, and an undisclosed amount of funding from In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture investment arm, as Optics.org reported in 2011. Bechtold declined to comment on the total value of grants and contracts awarded to Alfalight.
Whether or not Alfalight’s founders or investors made a profit for their time and money, G&H is finding value in the startup, Bechtold says.
“The integration of Alfalight into G&H has gone as planned and we are working closely and productively as members of the G&H organization,” he says. “With the resources of the larger G&H organization, the former Alfalight team will be able to magnify the impact of our technologies and capabilities on a worldwide basis.”
Fourteen of Alfalight’s employees were transferred to work out of G&H’s office in the Boston area following the acquisition, according to Optics.org. Bechtold declined to respond to questions about the size of Alfalight’s workforce at the time it was purchased, and the number of G&H employees who currently work from the former Alfalight facility in Madison.
