# Light Polymers

> Light Polymers is a Santa Clara nanochemistry company built around lyotropic liquid crystals - water-based materials that can be coated directly onto surfaces to manage light. Its flagship innovation is a direct-coat polarizer that replaces the laminated films used in OLED, MicroLED, and AR/VR displays, aiming for thinner, brighter, lower-cost optics with a simpler supply chain. Founded in 2013, the company runs chemical synthesis and R&D in California and application engineering and manufacturing in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

- **Founded:** 2013
- **Headquarters:** Santa Clara, California, United States
- **Founders:** Marc McConnaughey (Founder)
- **Team size:** ~11 employees
- **Products:** Direct-Coat OLED Polarizers, AR/VR & Pancake Optics Coatings, MicroLED Patterned Materials, Coatable Polarizers on Wafer Optics, Healthy Lighting Products
- **Notable:** Developed a 45-micron OLED circular polarizer described as thinner than competing laminated offerings (2017)., Raised $24.3M Series A and a $5M strategic Series B backed by Tokyo Electron, Tsingda, and JSR., Awarded a 2024 U.S.-Israel BIRD Foundation grant (one of 10 approved projects) for VR/MR optics work with Hypervision.

## Products & services

- **Direct-Coat OLED Polarizers** — Water-based lyotropic liquid crystal linear and circular polarizers coated directly onto display panels, including a 45-micron circular polarizer described as thinner than competing laminated offerings.
- **AR/VR & Pancake Optics Coatings** — Polarized liquid-crystal coatings for curved surfaces and pancake optics used in virtual and mixed reality headsets, developed in part with partner Hypervision.
- **MicroLED Patterned Materials** — Liquid crystal materials that can be patterned at the pixel level for next-generation MicroLED and flexible displays.
- **Coatable Polarizers on Wafer Optics** — Thin-film polarizer coatings for sensor and camera-lens design applications on wafer-scale optics.
- **Healthy Lighting Products** — Lyotropic liquid crystal films applied to LED lighting to improve spectral quality and reduce harmful blue-light exposure.

## Achievements

- Developed a 45-micron OLED circular polarizer described as thinner than competing laminated offerings (2017).
- Raised $24.3M Series A and a $5M strategic Series B backed by Tokyo Electron, Tsingda, and JSR.
- Awarded a 2024 U.S.-Israel BIRD Foundation grant (one of 10 approved projects) for VR/MR optics work with Hypervision.
- Built a two-continent operation: chemical synthesis and R&D in Santa Clara, application engineering and manufacturing in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

## Latest updates

- **2024-04** — Received a U.S.-Israel BIRD Foundation grant to develop liquid crystal-based polarized coatings for VR/MR pancake optics with partner Hypervision.
- **2021-10** — Expanded focus to coatings on curved surfaces for AR/VR and pixel-level patterning for MicroLED applications.
- **2018-05** — Launched healthy lighting products using its lyotropic liquid crystal technology.
- **2018-01** — Signed agreement with Liquid Polarized for next-generation polarized sunglasses technology.

## Links

- Website: https://lightpolymers.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/light-polymers
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/LightPolymers
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/lightpolymers

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/light-polymers
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Last updated: 2026-07-11