Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Bridgelux Raises $50M More, Hires Seagate's Watkins As CEO

Sunnyvale-based Bridgelux, a developer of solid state lighting technology, announced this morning that it has raised $50M in a Series D financing, and named a new CEO. According to the firm, the $50M round was led by VantagePoint Venture Partners, and also included DCM and all of its other existing investors. The firm said the new funding will go towards global manufacturing as well as further research and development. Along with the funding, the firm said that it has named former Seagate CEO William D. Watkins as its CEO. Watkins replaces Mark Swoboda, who is being President of the firm. Watkins was CEO of Seagate, where he had been for 13 years. Bridgelux is developing LED-based, solid state lighting systems and components. More information »