New Soraa LED MR16 Built on Breakthrough GaN on GaNTM Technology Is Superior to Halogen

Soraa, the world’s leading developer of GaN on GaNTM – gallium nitride on gallium nitride – solid-state lighting technology, today announced the launch of its flagship product, the Soraa LED MR16 lamp. The new product is the first LED lamp to provide superior performance to a traditional halogen MR16. It is also the first LED lamp to provide halogen-equivalent brightness without requiring a mechanical fan and payback within months, not years. The Soraa LED MR16 lamp based on GaN on GaNTM technology represents a revolutionary breakthrough in lighting technology: LED 2.0.

Founded by Shuji Nakamura, Steve DenBaars, and James Speck, Soraa leverages decades of expertise from the father of modern LED lighting, Shuji Nakamura, and preeminent solid-state lighting experts from the University of California, Santa Barbara.  The company is headquartered in Fremont, CA, where it houses the world’s first GaN on GaNTM light-chip fabrication facility and their lighting products design lab.

Soraa’s proprietary GaN on GaNTM technology yields the highest-performance LED MR16 lamp the market has to offer. Soraa’s pure GaN crystal is up to one thousand times purer than GaN on sapphire or GaN on silicon carbide substrates, the platforms other LED lighting technologies rely upon today.

“Our technological foundation enables Soraa products to emit more light per LED material and handle more electric current per area than competitors, providing the highest quality light that makes for a perfect, more energy efficient replacement for traditional halogen lamps,” said Soraa CEO Eric Kim.

The company’s flagship product, the Soraa LED MR16 lamp, available first to commercial customers, is priced to achieve less than one-year payback.  The company chose the MR16 format because it has been the most difficult LED lamp to do correctly, given its small size and intense, high quality brightness requirements. Soraa’s GaN on GaN MR16 is the first LED to rival the traditional 50W halogen. Its perfect crystal structure delivers a bright, highly-focused, controlled beam with the ability to produce a high color rendering index and center beam candle-power to match a standard halogen lamp. Soraa’s efficient thermal design also delivers halogen-equivalent performance without requiring a mechanical fan. The lamp’s elegant, single-source LED design provides crisp object definition with solo shadow, uniform color and a perfect beam pattern. Additionally, the Soraa LED MR16 lamp features optimized electrical design for total compatibility, making it suitable for use with all common transformers and dimmers, both indoors and outdoors.

“I've been searching for a long time for a quality LED to replace an MR16 halogen. Soraa's lamp is a quantum leap over what is currently on the market, offering brighter light, dimmability, long lamp life, as well as dramatically improved energy efficiency,” said Randall Whitehead, a leading U.S. lighting designer. “Soraa’s is not only the first LED MR16 I’ve found that outperforms halogen lamps, it’s simply a best of breed product.”
Led by CEO Eric Kim, who brings deep technology and brand development leadership from his tenure at Intel and Samsung, Soraa is backed by over $100 million in funding from Khosla Ventures, NEA Partners, and NGEN Partners.

“Lighting affects the way we see the world, and good light can make anything more compelling,” said Co-Founder Shuji Nakamura. “At Soraa, we are proud to create efficient lighting products that do not compromise on performance, offer the highest quality available and greatly reduce energy waste. We believe that with GaN on GaN, we have truly entered the next chapter in LED technology: LED 2.0.”

About Soraa
Soraa is the world’s leading developer of solid-state lighting technology built on pure gallium nitride substrates, commonly referred to as GaN on GaNTM. Only Soraa uses a pure GaN crystal to create simply perfect light. Founded in 2008, Soraa has developed the world’s first commercial GaN on GaNTM light-chip fabrication facility located in Fremont, CA. Soraa’s investors include Khosla Ventures, NEA Partners, and NGEN Partners.