< Great Lakes Crystal Technologies was in the inaugural cohort of Duality >
Great Lakes Crystal Technologies (GLCT) has closed a highly oversubscribed Seed funding round to advance its mission of becoming the leading provider of high-performance crystalline diamond materials for high-technology applications.
GLCT’s Seed round was led by a strategic super-angel investor and included several additional angel investors as well as Red Cedar Ventures and Michigan RISE. The company is using the funds to build its Pilot Scale Plant in Lansing, Michigan and to hire manufacturing and business development staff to accelerate penetration into the commercial market.
“The very strong investor interest we fielded in an otherwise challenging startup investment environment serves as validation that we have the technology and the team to address an exciting market. We have the opportunity to create both economic and social capital while establishing the U.S. as the center of excellence in an important new platform material technology,” said Keith Evans, GLCT CEO.
There is a growing demand for high-performance crystalline diamond materials for the national security, defense, and commercial sectors. Specific applications that will benefit from GLCT’s products include: quantum sensors for applications including GPS-free navigation and magnetoencephalography (MEG); ultra-high performance (high-temperature, high-power, high-speed, and radiation-hard) electronics for applications including all-electric ships, renewable energy, electric grid, ultra-efficient drones, and space electronics; x-ray optics for advanced light sources; and detectors for x-rays and other high energy particles. “Additionally, diamond-based opto-mechanical sensors have the potential to enhance the commercial deployment potential of molten salt-based small modular nuclear reactors,” explained Evans.
GLCT has benefited from over $6 million in federal grants and numerous local and state support initiatives in both Michigan and Illinois. In 2021, GLCT established its R&D Laboratory at its Michigan Headquarters in East Lansing. The same year, GLCT was selected to participate in the inaugural cohort of Duality, the University of Chicago’s quantum accelerator. In 2023, GLCT established its Illinois Headquarters in Hyde Park adjacent to the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE) which they joined as a Corporate Partner. The company plans to continue to expand its presence in Michigan and Illinois.
GLCT was formed in 2019 by diamond materials expert and Michigan State University (MSU) Professor Timothy Grotjohn and semiconductor materials technology commercialization expert Keith Evans to commercialize MSU’s patented diamond manufacturing technology. In 2022, Fulbright Scholar Mus Chagal joined as Executive Director of GLCT’s board. Additional members of GLCT’s executive team are Paul Quayle (VP R&D), Ramon Diaz (VP Production), and GLCT’s most recent hire Elina Kasman (VP Business Development).
About Great Lakes Crystal Technologies (GLCT)
GLCT’s mission is to become the leading provider of high-performance diamond materials for high-technology applications. GLCT launched in 2019 as a Michigan State University (MSU) startup with early support from Spartan Innovations and Red Cedar Ventures. The company has also benefited from the positive Michigan-based ecosystem for startups receiving the Business Accelerator Fund and Emerging Technologies Fund, both of which are administered by the Michigan Small Business Development Center in partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. GLCT is a founding member of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium, a corporate partner of the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE), a member of the UCSB NSF Quantum Foundry industrial advisory board, and a member of the Resilient Infrastructure + Secure Energy (RISE) Consortium. For more information about GLCT visit our website or send us an email.