Intellectual Ventures captures key metamaterial IP and talent early to form multiple companies

January 24, 2019 | Case Study

Intellectual Ventures (IV) began developing metamaterials IP and acquiring IP and talent from the field's inventors, Sir John Pendry at Imperial College London and David Smith at Duke University, in the early 2000s. Between 2012 and 2018, IV founded six companies based on that IP: Kymeta (mobile broadband communications), Evolv Technology (security imaging), Echodyne (radar), Pivotal Commware (5G communications), Lumotiv (lidar), and Carillon Technologies (military applications). These six startup companies collectively target most of the major industries that metamaterials have a high likelihood of disrupting.