DURHAM – Sense Photonics, a startup that has largely operated in stealth mode, emerged in a big way Wednesday with the news that the company focused on sensor technology for autonomous vehicles and other uses has closed on $26 million in venture capital.

Sense Photonics

With intellectual property protected by some 200 patents, Sense Photonics is preparing to bring to market technology it believes will make not only autonomous vehicles but industrial robots safer to operate.

Utilizing radar known as LiDAR (which stands for light detection and ranging) and 3D sensor technology, Sense plans to bring to market products later this year. Goldoman Saches certainly sees Lidar as a big market with a potential value of $200 billion.

Here’s how Sense describes its technology:

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A screen shot of data captured by the Sense system.

“Based on a unique ‘flash’ architecture, Sense Photonics’ systems have no moving parts and do not scan at all.  This approach enables high resolution across wide horizontal and vertical fields-of-view without compromising frame rate.  In addition, the company’s camera-inspired design is highly manufacturable and enables small, customizable form factors critical for seamless integration into vehicles.”

The firm, which launched in 2016, certainly has drawn interest from investors with Acadia Woods and Congruent Ventures co-leading the round.

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A test vehicle equipped with the Sense Photonics system

“Congruent is excited to work with Sense Photonics and its outstanding leadership team to help bring innovation to the autonomous vehicle and robotics space,” said Josh Posamentier, managing partner of Congruent Ventures. “The technology that the Sense Photonics team is working on is years ahead of the competition, and we think they are poised to disrupt multiple markets.”

Other backers include Samsung Ventures, Shell Ventures and Prelude Ventures.

“We are very appreciative of this strong vote of investor confidence in our team and our technology,” said Scott Burroughs, the firm’s CEO, in announcing the funding.

“The demand we’ve encountered – even while operating in stealth mode – has been extraordinary.  We look forward to announcing our first products over the next few months and ramping up volume production.”

Sense actually began fund raising in 2018, closing on some $14 million, according to an SEC filing.

Burroughs and CCO Russ Kanjorski founded the company.