Michael Lovitt

In Austin, startups come and go with promises of disruption, but every so often a team shows up with tech that doesn't just clean instruments, it disinfects old thinking. That's Lumaegis, Inc. Founded in 2018, this company is led by CEO and President John S. Morreale, CTO Dr. Sudhir Subramanya, and Chief Innovation Officer Matthijs Keuper. These aren't rookies, they're the same kind of minds that helped drive the LED revolution, which the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) credits with saving 570M tons of CO2. Now they're aiming that light at the sterilization industry, and the result is RadBox, a device that makes the traditional autoclave look like it belongs in a museum. On August 26, 2025, Lumaegis closed a $200K pre-seed round, led by a global strategic partner already deep in sterilization. This raise is part of a $1.5M convertible note, with roughly $300K already committed through angels and venture sources. The plan for this money isn't vague, it's going straight into building production-ready units, completing FDA, UL/CE, and durability testing, with FDA-mandated trials beginning before year-end. No endless fundraising treadmill here, just a sprint to regulatory clearance and commercial launch. RadBox carries FDA De Novo classification, reserved for tech so novel that no predicate exists. It sterilizes in under six mins with UV-C and infrared LEDs, versus 85–90 mins for steam sterilizers. The math: three times the productivity, 75% smaller footprint, 80% less power use, and zero water. Clinics save $25K annually per unit. In lab tests, RadBox hit a six-log kill against #Bacilluspumilus in under 3 mins, the benchmark for #radiativesterilization. The market is hungry. #Dentalsterilization is $2B today and will hit $3.5B by 2033, with 68% controlled by North American clinics. Lumaegis already has its first major customer, also an investor, lined up for 2,000+ units. Add in LOIs from dental partners who shaped the device, and the road to 2026 sales is paved. Strategy: direct-to-dental first, then scale into veterinary and research. Distribution will lean on Darby, Benco Dental, and Safco Dental Supply, alongside growing Dental Service Organizations. Cash-flow-positive operations are projected within 27 months of first sales. Morreale brings aerospace and supply chain rigor, Subramanya adds medical and sustainability depth, and Keuper applies physics expertise forged in Philips labs. The same technology that transformed lighting is now set to transform sterilization. Funding secured. Regulatory milestones in motion. Customers ready. Lumaegis isn’t flashing signals, it’s setting the standard for faster, cleaner, sustainable infection control. #Startups #StartupFunding #EarlyStage #VentureCapital #PreSeed #MedicalDevices #MedDevice #Sterilization #Dental #DentalTech #CleanTech #Technology #Innovation #TechEcosystem #StartupEcosystem If software engineering peace of mind is what you crave, Vention is your zen.

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Everyone’s racing to adopt AI. But here’s the question Jamie Aitken is asking: What kind of workplace are we automating? Her latest article makes it clear—HR’s role is non-negotiable if AI is going to make work better. (PS you can catch Jamie live at From Day One on Sept. 24 for her session on some of these themes) https://gag.gl/s7u4Gs

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I find Charles Fine's double-helix model of industry integration-disintegration to be an excellent lens for explaining the ongoing SaaSpocalypse. If you haven't heard, Anthropic announced a legal plugin for Cowork, and the SaaS industry shed $285B in market value. Established SaaS companies are vertically integrated smokestacks - Salesforce, ServiceNow, SAP, QuickBooks, Westlaw. All the disintegration forces are now in play: (1) A niche player - AI agents + plugins, (2) Enormous complexity - the platforms take years to implement, (3) Organizational rigidity - SaaS vendors are too big and bureaucratic to react. When you add all of this together, you get SaaSpocalypse. To see what comes next, read my full article - link below.

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That's a wrap on an incredible Colorado Startup Week! I'm still catching up on all the amazing sessions and connections (huge thanks to the organizers at Downtown Denver Partnership!), but one brutally honest lesson stood out: 𝗣𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗩𝗖 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 #𝟭 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱. It’s easy to get stars in your eyes thinking about landing that top-tier fund. But it's a trap. You get one shot with them. If your pitch isn't battle-tested, you've burned your most valuable bridge. When raising rounds the real pros use a different playbook: 𝟭. 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗺 𝗨𝗽 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 "𝗕-𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁." Before you even think about your A-list, pitch angel groups and smaller VCs. This is your live-fire practice range. Let them poke holes in your model and expose every weakness. You get priceless feedback *without* burning your dream lead. 𝟮. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗛𝗮𝘀 𝟭𝟬 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘀. 𝗠𝗮𝘅. An investor in one session said it best: "I'm not in your industry. I don't get your jargon." Our world is real estate AI, but the deck needs to be understood by a general SaaS investor. If they have to ask what you do on slide one, you've already lost. 𝟯. 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 "𝗡𝗼" 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗺 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼. A "no" is only a dead end if you let it be. Your final question should always be: *"Based on this, is there anyone else in your network who you think would be a better fit?"* A warm referral from another VC is gold. 𝟰. 𝗕𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲. The best VCs have pattern recognition from seeing a hundred other PropTech companies. You've only seen one: yours. Arguing with them proves you're uncoachable. Integrating their feedback shows you're a true partner.\ 𝟱. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟵𝟬-𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸. Fundraising isn't an endless process. If you don't have significant traction in 2-3 months, something is broken. It's either the pitch or the business. The pros know when to stop, reassess, and pivot instead of burning through their remaining runway. *𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.* Special thanks to everyone that we made memories this year with: Tias Dacuma Isela Vega Karey G. Michael Schonebaum ISINGOMA JOEL Lior Schinagel Adeel Khan Tundė Kelani Axel Martinez Stewart Orr Elisabetta Rappo Paul Foley Amol Deshpande Margarita Belunni Shaquille Carter Teombre' Calland,Esq. Ariana Patterson Even though we are currently bootstrapped, I'm obsessed with this process because it's the ultimate test of a business's clarity. For the founders who *are* raising, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁? #DenverStartupWeek #PropTech #VentureCapital #SaaS #Fundraising #ColoradoStartup

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I'm incredibly excited for this talk. Top K queries are the backbone of search engines, which have historically been NoSQL databases unable to execute JOINs. We're fixing this with ParadeDB. Highly recommend attending, I promise you'll learn something!

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