Lux Capital is a venture capital

Venture capital

Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...

 firm founded by Peter Hébert, Robert Paull, and Josh Wolfe in 2000
. The firm invests in emerging technologies

Emerging technologies

In the history of technology, emerging technologies are contemporary advances and innovation in various fields of technology. Various converging technologies have emerged in the technological convergence of different systems evolving towards similar goals...

 in the physical and life sciences.

The firm is based in New York, with partners also located in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 and San Diego. The Lux Capital team has built more than 20 companies from scratch.

Lux's principals have been interested in developing improved methods for the treatment or remediation of nuclear waste, to assist the nuclear power

Nuclear power

Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...

 industry.

Lux Capital's portfolio companies include Accelergy, Cambrios, Cerulean Pharma, Crystal IS, Everspin, Genocea Biosciences, Kala Pharmaceuticals, Kereos, Kurion, Lux Research, Luxtera

Luxtera

Luxtera Inc., founded in 2001, is based in Carlsbad, California. Luxtera is a fabless semiconductor company that is using silicon photonics technology to build complex electro-optical systems in a production silicon CMOS process...

, Magen Biosciences, Molecular Imprints, Nanosys, Visterra, QD Soleil, SiBEAM

SiBEAM

SiBEAM Inc., now a subsidiary of Silicon Image, was a fabless semiconductor company and a developer of high-speed wireless communication platforms. The company was among the leading innovators of millimeter wave...

, Silicon Clocks, Siluria Technologies, and Transphorm.

In April 2011, former McKinsey Senior Partner Richard N. Foster

Richard N. Foster

Richard N. Foster, Managing Partner, Millbrook Management Group LLC – Mr. Foster was a Director and Senior Partner of with McKinsey & Company where he was responsible for serving clients in the U.S., Europe and Asia focusing on industry sectors including chemicals, electronics, healthcare, retail...

 and former CIA Director James Woolsey joined Lux Capital as venture partners.