Lightmatter
Lightmatter develops computer hardware for advanced computing applications. The company has raised $822M and employs 365 people, with engineering making up its largest function.
The growth story
Lightmatter grew from 83 to 365 employees between 2021 and 2026, raising $822M along the way, most recently a Series D in September 2025.
About
Lightmatter builds specialized hardware components aimed at enabling next-generation computing capabilities. Its products target industries and researchers pushing the boundaries of what computers can achieve.
The company has secured $822M in funding, most recently in a Series D round. With 365 employees, Lightmatter has built a substantial engineering team, which accounts for nearly a third of its workforce.
Founders and leadership
Engineering is Lightmatter's largest function, with 119 employees. The company's leadership team includes founders with backgrounds in hardware development and venture capital.
The Lightmatter org chart
Nicholas Harris (Founder, CEO) leads 60 mapped leaders with 11 direct reports. Click +N to expand a team; names link to the person’s public profile.
Departments, and which ones grew
Headcount by function: Engineering 193 (+13% YoY), Information Technology 28 (+22% YoY), Arts and Design 24 (+14% YoY), Quality Assurance 15 (+36% YoY), Human Resources 13 (+18% YoY), Operations 11 (+38% YoY).
Talent flow
Lightmatter recruits heavily from major hardware companies, with Intel being the top source of talent. Alumni frequently move to NVIDIA, AMD, and other leading tech firms.
Most common previous employers of Lightmatter staff: Intel (39), Google (14), AMD (13), Marvell Technology (11), IBM (10), Cisco (9). Former Lightmatter employees most often moved to NVIDIA (8), AMD (6), Marvell Technology (5), OpenAI (4), Google (4), Apple (4).
Alumni worth knowing
The Lightmatter mafia
Lightmatter alumni have founded 11 companies, including Altera, Mixx Technologies, and Foundation Alloy. These startups span hardware, AI, and materials science.
11Raghib Hussain, was Member Board Of Directors until 2022Rebecca Schaevitz, was Director of Product Management until 2024Jake Guglin, was Operations & Finance until 2022Sanchayan Sinha, was Product Lead until 2023Mehul Agarwal, was Product Designer until 2024Victoria Pisini, was MBA Intern until 2019
Sudarshan Yadav, was Head of Product until 2022
Shuyan Wang, was TPM until 2022
David Walter, was Software Engineer for Machine Learning until 2022
Swapna .Iyer, was ML Compiler Engineer until 2024
Jessie Zhang, was Head of Finance until 2023Hiring now
Web traffic
Traffic mix: 27% direct, 42% search, 3% social, 2% paid.
What this company is made of
Most common skills at Lightmatter: Python (Programming Language) (143), MATLAB (127), C (Programming Language) (102), C++ (101), Semiconductor Engineering (96), Microsoft Office (78), Embedded Systems (73), Leadership (70).
Where the team actually sits
Lightmatter people are concentrated in California, United States (80), San Francisco Bay Area (47), Massachusetts, United States (39), United States (16). 2 offices on record.
Search footprint
Lightmatter attracts about 1,403 organic search visits a month, traffic worth roughly $3K a month if bought through ads. It gained 209 ranking keywords and lost 160 in the last period.
What employees say
- Compensation
- 4.00 / 5
- Career opportunities
- 4.10 / 5
- Senior management
- 3.80 / 5
- Work-life balance
- 4.00 / 5
Frequently asked
Lightmatter has 365 employees as of September 2026.
Lightmatter has raised $822M in total, most recently a Series D round in September 2025.
Lightmatter was founded in 2017 by Nicholas Harris, Thomas Graham, Darius Bunandar.
Nicholas Harris (Founder, CEO) sits at the top of Lightmatter's reporting structure, with 11 direct reports.
The most common previous employers of current Lightmatter staff are Intel (39 people), Google (14 people), AMD (13 people).
Former Lightmatter employees most often move to NVIDIA (8), AMD (6), Marvell Technology (5).
At least 11 companies have a founder who previously worked at Lightmatter, including Altera, Mixx Technologies, Foundation Alloy.
Lightmatter attracts about 1,403 organic search visits a month, worth roughly $3K a month in equivalent ad spend.
The most common skills among Lightmatter staff are Python (Programming Language), MATLAB, C (Programming Language), C++, Semiconductor Engineering.
Lightmatter staff are concentrated in California, United States (80), San Francisco Bay Area (47), Massachusetts, United States (39).
Lightmatter has about 193 people in Engineering, up 13% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Lightmatter has about 28 people in Information Technology, up 22% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Computed from 236 current and 172 former Lightmatter profiles, as of September 2026. Source: Crustdata.
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