Maybe you can't imagine a relationship between a $2,000 professional camera and a self-driving car, but Softbank CEO Sun Zheng did it. The startup, now headquartered in Palo Alto, called the Light, has just received $121 million in investment from Softbank's vision fund.
Sun Zhengyi said that he hopes that Light can have more ambitious goals, not just developing cameras or smartphone cameras for photography enthusiasts. He hopes to see Light's computational imaging capabilities as a technology that can support autonomous driving car vision systems, and even replace the laser pointer radar (LIDAR) technology used in most autonomous vehicles today.
“When we first met Sun Zheng in Tokyo, he expressed his love for our technology. He has been driving our development, and you know that he is very good at finding the most transformative way of technology in the future.” Light CEO David Grannan said.
"He likes our laser pointer optical system and thinks it can be used not only on ordinary cameras, but also in lidar, and it can solve many problems facing the current laser radar," Grandnan said. “When we explored this issue, we thought Sun Zheng’s idea was correct, and Light could develop a better sensing or vision system for autonomous vehicles.”
Light calls its core technology a "software-defined camera," which means it takes multiple photos to be combined into a very high-quality new photo based on machine learning and other technologies. And that's why Light's previous L16 camera was equipped with 16 cameras.
This also means that the laser pointer technology can extract 3D data from images, such as when autonomous cars need to know the distance from the roadside, this technology can come in handy.
“Computer photography does require a lot of pictures, and combines the photos they take with the software through small, low-cost cameras, including cameras used in smartphones,” said Grandnan. “This will result in high quality, high resolution 3D images.”
Grandnan said that Light will not fully transform its image technology into autonomous vehicles, but will continue to sell L16 cameras and continue to enter the smartphone camera market. The company plans to release its first smartphone with this technology this fall, and plans to work with other smartphone vendors in the future to launch four to nine models next year.
In addition to Softbank, the famous camera brand Lycra also participated in this round of financing, in addition to GV, Bessemer Venture Partners, Charles River Ventures, Eclipse Ventures and other venture capital institutions. Light currently has 120 employees, including 18 PhDs. Rajiv Laroia, the company's co-founder and chief technology officer, is also among them.
Grandnan said that after obtaining the investment, Light will not announce its latest valuation for the time being. According to previous PitchBook data, the company achieved a valuation of $ 147 million after completing a $30 million Series C financing in 2016.