Nanotechnology Startup Lemoptix's CTO Nicolas Abelé About Being Acquired by Intel

22.06.2020 15:00, Guillaume Tinsel

What would a sale of the startup mean to me personally? Stay and follow a corporate career or go and start a new company or invest as a business angel? We talked with Nicolas Abele whos startup Lemoptix got acquired by Intel.

Those who decide on a corporate career stay. Those who leave have a choice: they can start a second business with the money and knowledge gained from the first project. Or they can focus on financing new projects themselves as business angels. Serial entrepreneurs and business angels start over again. 

Nicolas Abelé - A roller-coaster ride

When Nicolas Abelé was a PhD student at EPFL’s Laboratory of Microsystems, the label ‘Intel inside’ was stuck on every desktop computer. Intel was the quality brand for semiconductor chips par excellence. However, the American firm missed the trend towards mobile phones and smartphones, which is why five to six years ago it formed a new, global ‘wearables’ division and acquired half a dozen companies for it, including Lemoptix, a photonics EPFL spin-off, co-founded by Abelé in 2008, and Composyt Light Labs, another start-up from EPFL, with which Lemoptix was partnering in smart glass applications.

Abelé regarded the exit as an opportunity. On the one hand, he now had the capital to invest in young tech companies himself; on the other hand, he believed that with the virtually unlimited resources of Intel, Lemoptix’s vision could be accomplished more easily. The 38-year-old went to work with enthusiasm, but a certain unease soon took over. The communication style of the new owners was bizarre by Swiss standards: “Our bosses, the general manager of the division and his close staff at headquarters,” says Abelé, “hardly ever consulted us on strategic decision making for our product.” And it became worse: the wearables division flopped and was gradually wound up. When only Lemoptix remained, the decision came from Santa Clara that it would also pull the plug on the Superlight department. “It was brutal. You feel powerless in such a situation,” says Abelé.

At least, Intel was looking to value Superlight and its team. One due diligence chased another. Several companies expressed interest, but with the intention of moving the staff to North America. “But only a minority here wanted that,” says Abelé. When the team finally got the offer from the American unicorn Magic Leap in mid-2018, the father of three worked flat out to wrestle a commitment to the location of Lausanne from the new owner. “The time at Intel,” says Abelé retrospectively, “was a crazy adventure but also a very enriching experience.” And one with a good outcome, as 25 of the former 40 Superlight employees still remain. They are building a revolutionary new generation of augmented reality eyewear: “If everything goes according to plan,” says a satisfied Director of Hardware Development, “we’ll get into the Guinness Book of Records.”

This article by Jost Dubacher with illustrations by Bianca Litscher was first published in the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Magazine 2019. Each year since 2011, the 100 most innovative and promising Swiss startups are picked by a jury of 100 leading investors and startup experts. The selected TOP 100 startups are the world shapers of tomorrow. So far they raised 2.6 billion investments, 36 exits and 2 IPOs. The upcoming TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards will take place on September 9th, 2020.



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