Juganu Closes $23M For Its Innovative LED Lighting Network

Israeli light tech manufacturer, Juganu, a firm developing innovative LED lighting systems, announced last week the completion of a $23 million financing round led by Israeli growth tech capital fund Viola Growth.

The funding round includes additional investors like OurCrowd, the Jerusalem-based equity crowdfunding platform and a Mexican investment fund.

Founded in 2011 by Eran Ben-Shmuel and Alex Bilchinsky, Juganu is based on a technology capable of changing light composition and features an advanced infrastructure for AI technology.

Juganu revolutionizes the installation of technology in public and commercial spaces at a significantly lower cost than other solutions available on the market, the company says.

In a strategic collaboration with semiconductor and telecommunications equipment company Qualcomm over the past five years, the company has used the US multinational’s chipsets to combine advanced lighting technology with AI-based learning to solve the technology challenges of smart cities and municipalities.

Juganu has registered 40 patents to create a network of wireless grids and lighting fixtures in public spaces, a concept the company refers to as the “Digital World.” This “Digital World” LED network will replace current fiber optic communication cables that require intense physical labor and expensive construction. Juganu’s lighting-based infrastructure saves about 90 percent of costs and reduces the consumption of public electricity by around 80 percent, the company says.

“The company has a unique technology with the potential to expand into other industries. The latest financing round will allow it to speed up its R&D while also expanding marketing and sales operations in Israel and overseas,” says Ayal  Shiran, Partner at Viola Growth.

“The funds will allow us to move forward more quickly towards realizing the company’s vision and is a major vote of confidence by leading agents in the high-tech market. We will bring our technologies to some of the world’s major cities, international retail chains, public institutions and more, providing quality, healthy lighting as well as broadband wireless communications,” adds Juganu CEO and co-founder Eran Ben-Shmuel.

Earlier this year, Juganu was one of eight joint projects between Israeli and American companies invested in by the Israel-US Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation. With BIRD’s investment, Juganu, in cooperation with New Jersey-based Just Greens LLC, planned to develop a tunable, LED-based fixture for automated horticulture processes.