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Since 2017, more than 400 ventures have come through the University of Ģ����ý’s (CDL-Rockies), all looking to take their ventures to the next level.

The mentorship-based accelerator has experts — engineers, scientists, operators and investors — offering direct, honest and sometimes tough guidance to founders looking to scale up their science- and technology-based companies.

Such was the case for the founders of Hyperlume. When they first came to CDL-Rockies in 2022, they knew they had something special with their innovative microLED idea.

Few could have predicted that their journey, with the support of the UĢ����ý’s innovation ecosystem, would take them to a major acquisition by a NASDAQ-listed semiconductor company. 

It’s one of the many compelling stories of transformative impact at CDL-Rockies on the local, national and international business landscape since its establishment at the . It was created as a branch of the CDL program founded in 2012 at the at the University of Toronto.

Hyperlume co-founders Dr. Mohsen Asad, who received his PhD from the University of Waterloo, and Dr. Hossein Fariborzi, who received his from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, came to CDL-Rockies with a plan to develop ultra-low power AR/VR technology for the display industry.

But many CDL-Rockies mentors didn’t see potential in the idea and voted not to keep the venture in the program. The only person willing to raise their hand in support of Hyperlume was Datum Telegraphic co-founder and CEO , BSc’84.

“My conviction to keep them in the program was based on the fact that the founders were probably the two smartest people in the CDL stream,” Wallace says. “I felt like I could direct them towards a new market.”

One of program’s greatest strengths is its ability to bring mentors together from diverse perspectives and backgrounds into one room, says CDL-Rockies site lead Heather Marshall, MBA’19.

“This breadth of insight creates meaningful opportunities for founders of unique and industry-agnostic technologies, like the team behind Hyperlume,” Marshall says. “Often, it takes just one mentor seeing what others may not, and having the conviction to act, which can significantly influence a company’s trajectory.” 

CDL mentorship leads to successful pivot

Wallace says he met with Hyperlume’s founders on Zoom and had a frank conversation about what needed to happen.

“I explained why I felt the AR/VR space wasn’t good and why I felt the market didn’t need their optical link device,” he says. “I encouraged them to look for a new market.”

Wallace says they decided on a pivot to the data centre market and outlined all the reasons their microLED technology would provide distinct advantages to this market, which impressed him and, ultimately, other mentors who started raising their hands in support.

Building the business model

CDL-Rockies alumni ventures have generated $8.7 billion in enterprise value and created more than 2,700 jobs, including significant growth in Alberta.

While Hyperlume isn’t based here, its founders were able to tap into expertise and resources they did not have elsewhere.

Among them was mentor , who decided to be an early investor after a friendly nudge from Dr. T. Chen Fong, MD, Hon. LLD’19, founding fellow of CDL-Rockies.

“I had been looking for a way to play in the AI space and didn’t want to invest in a model or an application,” Shedden says. “A few months after the investment, Mohsen called me to ask if I knew how to build a financial model, which I had done a bit earlier in my career. So, I said yes, and Mohsen, Hossein and I spent a Saturday afternoon on Zoom building the model.”

Shortly after the virtual call, Shedden says Asad invited him to become Hyperlume’s chief financial officer.

UCeed investment blooms opportunity

Early financing is always a major hurdle for any new business, and Hyperlume was no exception. Fortunately, it had the early backing of , the university’s early stage investment fund that helps fund, train, mentor and support startup companies. UCeed, established in 2020, is powered by philanthropy, thanks to donors who step forward to support the university’s mandate to drive research towards innovation to uncover solutions to real-world problems. 

UCeed became Hyperlume’s first investor and led its pre-seed round of financing through its Energy Fund — one of . The , the only fund guided by students trained in venture evaluation, then , while the Energy Fund doubled down. 

“Our early involvement helped de-risk the company at a formative stage, giving it the runway to develop its technology and build credibility for future investment,” says UCeed Executive Director Peter Santosham, MBA’06. 

An even bigger break later came for Hyperlume when San Jose-based Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd. called, .

“Credo was the perfect buyer for us,” says Shedden, who is now its senior director of business operations. “Our microLED-based optical technology was complimentary for them, and their industry-leading connectivity solutions and existing customer relationships were attractive to us, and will dramatically accelerate our time to market.” 

Paving the way for future ventures at UĢ����ý

Shedden says timing played a big role in Hyperlume’s success and that the company had a tremendous amount of good fortune during its short journey. 

“Our view was that if we were going to beat our competitors in Silicon Valley, then we would need to play a different game; one where we would have an advantage,” Shedden says. 

“We focused on pluggable microLED-based optical cables, which is less sexy in the networking and connectivity world, but allowed us to differentiate ourselves in certain important ways, and that was critical to being acquired.” 

The next wave of entrepreneurs and innovators are benefiting from the Hyperlume acquisition, says Santosham.

“The Hyperlume story provides a practical road map that feels more structured and achievable, rather than uncertain and overwhelming,” he says. “It shows future entrepreneurs and researchers that breakthrough ideas don’t have to start in Silicon Valley to reach global impact.”

Santosham says it breaks down the psychological barrier for founders from, “maybe this could work” to, “someone like me did this here” — a common theme heard throughout UĢ����ý’s 60 years and one that will continue in the decades to come.