Azumo
Azumo: Pioneering industrial and medical device solutions with advanced display lighting technology.
Founded
2008Azumo: Pioneering industrial and medical device solutions with advanced display lighting technology.
Azumo positions its front light panels against conventional backlit displays on power and readability. On the same AUO memory-in-pixel panel, the company states that adding its front light lets product designers save 57 percent of the power consumed by a backlit solution, while 64-color LCD 2.0 modules keep about 75 percent of the native color gamut that backlighting preserves at less than 20 percent.
The company also markets ultra-thin, glare-free front lighting that remains visible in direct sunlight, which supports outdoor, industrial, and wearable use cases where backlights struggle. Its lightguide films sit on the top surface of a display, stay invisible until lit, and remove the need for bulky backlighting in applications such as transparent keyboards and smart surfaces.
Source: azumotech.com
Commercialization is moving through manufacturing partnerships rather than a single proprietary fab. In November 2023 Azumo and AUO announced the first AUO display module shipping commercially with Azumo LCD 2.0 front light technology: a 3.4-inch color module for industrial handhelds pairing an AUO memory-in-pixel panel with Azumos lightguide. In September 2025 the company signed a strategic global partnership with Cymmetrik Group, bringing ISO-certified manufacturing capacity in Asia, a new clean room in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, and a global consumer-electronics license.
Azumo raised a $30 million funding round announced on May 10, 2022 to scale its LCD 2.0 reflective display technology. Anzu Partners led the financing, with participation including SABIC Ventures, VectoIQ, Dipalo Ventures, and Energy Foundry, giving the company capital to grow its module production and team.
The raise followed earlier backing from Chicago-area hardware investors such as Dipalo Ventures, which counts Azumo in its portfolio of connected-hardware startups, and Earth Foundry, the Chicago cleantech investor formerly known as Energy Foundry. The 2022 round remains the company largest disclosed financing and anchors its move from startup technology demos toward commercial display modules.
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Azumo builds LCD 2.0, a reflective front-light technology that combines a low-power reflective LCD with an ultra-thin lightguide film mounted on the front surface of the display. Because the light sits in front of the panel instead of behind it, modules stay readable in bright ambient light while consuming far less power than backlit designs; the company claims roughly ten times the battery savings of a traditional lit LCD.
The technology is delivered as thin front light panels and lightguide films that display makers integrate into memory-in-pixel and other reflective LCDs. Azumo says its ultra-thin light transmission technology carries more than 70 patents and is used in consumer, medical, industrial, educational, and automotive devices, including transparent laptop concepts such as the Lenovo keyboard built with its Nano-TFI film.
That alliance also included a strategic investment in Azumo by Cymmetrik, alongside automotive-grade manufacturing for cockpit, smart-surface, and glazing applications. Azumo further joined the Amazon Devices Climate Tech Accelerator in October 2025, working with Amazon engineering and sustainability teams to push ultra-low-power reflective displays into millions of devices.
Source: azumotech.com
Source: azumotech.com