Optical processing co Lenslet closes

The company had raised $27 million. It has laid off its last 30 employees.

Optical processing company Lenslet Labs Ltd. is closing down. The company, which has not raised capital since 2000, began to gradually reduce activity in 2003, and recently laid off its last 30 employees. It is now trying to sell its intellectual property.

Lenslet founder and CEO Aviram Sariel said today, “I’ve stopped analyzing what happened. The employees have been let go, and I’m now busy maximizing the profit on what remains. In other words, I’m examining options for selling the company’s know-how and intellectual property.”

Founded in 1999, Lenslet operated in the then hot optical sector. The company raised $27 million in its first two years of operations from Star Ventures, Tamar Technology Investors (Israel) LP, Walden Israel and foreign investors Goldman Sachs, JK&B Capital, and Exseed.

Lenslet was unable to develop a complete product, but worked on an especially fast signal optical processor for next-generation broadband communications networks based on optical hardware, to be installed in audio and video digital communications products. Three years ago, the company set up an approved enterprise for developing and producing an electro-optical processor and peripheral applications for communications equipment manufacturers, with a grant from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, at an investment of $1 million.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on March 2, 2006

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