LumenAstra Inc.
The University of Colorado Connection
LumenAstra was founded on the core body thermometer technology from the lab of Zoya Popovic , distinguished professor of electrical, computer and energy engineering at CU Boulder. The founders met in 2019 through a mentor-inventor matching program at Venture Partners at CU Boulder, the precursor to the Embark Deep Tech Startup Creator.Shortly after, the team won a Lab Venture Challenge grant that led to further derisking of the thermometer technology, and LumenAstra was founded. The team also participated in the NSF I-CorpsTM Hub West customer discovery programming at Venture Partners, which validated the company’s business model and helped secure additional SBIR grant funding.
Funding Status and Investment Opportunities
- Industry Applications: Health and Wellness, Biotech, Diagnostics, Medical Devices
- Funding Round: Seed
- Contact for Investment Inquiries: Jim Pollock , Co-Founder and CEO, jim@lumenastra.io
In the News
- Colorado awards $8.5M in advanced-industries grants (2022, Colorado Daily)
- Promising Venture Partners startups awarded $1.75 million in state commercialization grants (2022)
- Popovic elected to National Academy of Engineering (2022)
- Lab Venture Challenge awards record-breaking $1.35 million to promising CU Boulder ventures (2020)
Venture Partners Programs
- Destination Startup (2022)
- Ascent Deep Tech Accelerator (2022)
- Research-to-Market (R2M) Customer Discovery Program
- Starting Blocks Customer Discovery Workshop
- Lab Venture Challenge (2020)
- Mentor Matching (2019)
- Intellectual Property Management (2015)
Technology Development Funding
U.S. National Science Foundation
This page was last updated on July 31, 2026. Please email vpnews@colorado.edu for corrections or updates
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