Robin Wang: “Reluctantly starting a hyperspectral camera company: a guide to the terrors of the start-up world”

Abstract:
There are many opportunities to make mistakes when running a start-up. I’ve taken up many of these opportunities. To avoid everyone else making the same (sometimes dumb) mistakes, I’ll take you through the journey of Living Optics, which start as a PhD ‘side project’ and has now raised more than £30M and is now a company of 34 people, now selling hyperspectral cameras worldwide. Their hyperspectral cameras operate at video rates and feature an all-transmissive optical design, eliminating the need for expensive and inefficient mirrors or gratings. This results in cameras that are both compact and cost-effective. Fortune 100 companies and startups alike use these cameras in applications such as industrial inspection, healthcare, and agriculture.