Raydiance announced that it has secured $20 million in new funding that will allow it to further develop its ultrafast lasers and offer them in more markets.

The Series D funding round was led by Greenstreet Partners and joined by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which provided the initial stage of funding for the company.

"After four successful years of developing the Raydiance ultrafast laser platform, bringing the technology to market and establishing a solid client base, this new round of funding will allow us to execute fully on our next stage of growth and development," said Raydiance President Scott Davison. He co-founded the company with Barry Schuler, the former CEO of AOL.

Previously, Raydiance secured over $25 million in venture capital financing and $10 million in government funded R&D contracts, which enabled the launch of its first commercial product in 2007. Raydiance has reserved an additional $5 million to raise from a strategic investor.

Raydiance also announced the launch of the new Raydiance Discovery 2.0 system, which delivers double the pulse energy of its first-generation ultrashort pulse (USP), or ultrafast, laser platform.

“Since launching our first ultrafast laser platform eighteen months ago, Raydiance has been committed to constantly evolving each generation of this system while ensuring that customers have unencumbered access to our newest technology,” said Davison. “To date, we’ve seen incredible progress made by our customers and research partners, and we look forward to seeing the new products and services that will be enabled and powered by our breakthrough Discovery 2.0 product.”

Ultrafast lasers interact with matter in a way that is fundamentally different from all other lasers, providing the capability to precisely cut materials without generating heat, commonly referred to as “cold,” or athermal, ablation. When deployed at lower, nonablative energy levels, ultrafast light can create molecular and cellular phenomena with broad implications for genomics, materials science and medical treatments.

“Similar to the evolution of computing, Raydiance is pursuing a ‘Moore’s Law’-like path to develop and bring to market ultrafast lasers that are cheaper, smaller and more powerful with each generation,” said Davison. “The introduction of the Raydiance Discovery 2.0 system, combined with our recently-secured round of funding, not only validates this vision, but also will enable the development of even more game-changing applications powered by Raydiance across a broader range of industries.”

Over the past two years, Raydiance customers have been developing next-generation applications in ophthalmology, dermatology, gene transfection, surgery, and homeland security and defense, the company said, and Discovery 2.0 expands Raydiance’s market opportunities, most notably in the machining of advanced vascular stents and thin-film solar cell production.

For more information, visit: www.raydiance-inc.com