A Wrocław technology company has finished a six-month international accelerator in New York State at the top of its class — and with a $1 million investment to help take its technology further into the US market.
Gekko Photonics was named Company of the Year at the Luminate NY Finals in Rochester on 30 September, securing the largest follow-on investment awarded in the programme’s ninth cohort. The finals were held during Optica’s Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science conference and streamed internationally.
The result came after Luminate selected 10 companies from 138 applications representing 33 countries for its 2026 programme. Gekko was the only Polish company in the cohort and ultimately took the top award following six months of technical and commercial development in Rochester.
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Reading chemistry while production is still running
Gekko’s technology is designed for a problem familiar across chemical and manufacturing industries: by the time a sample has been removed from a production line, sent to a laboratory and analysed, the process itself may already have moved on.
Its Spectrally platform uses Raman spectroscopy to monitor chemical composition directly during production. Instead of relying solely on periodic samples, manufacturers can receive continuous information about what is happening inside a process while it is running.
Raman spectroscopy works by analysing how laser light interacts with molecules, producing information that can be used to identify chemical composition. Gekko combines that optical measurement with chemometric models — mathematical techniques for extracting useful chemical information from complex data — and AI-based analysis.
The company says its systems can be used in industries including chemicals, pharmaceuticals and food production, with measurements taken directly in a production installation and results available within seconds. Its aim is to help manufacturers detect deviations earlier, reduce waste and make process-control decisions without waiting for conventional laboratory results.
Gekko describes itself as a team of engineers and scientists working across photonics, spectroscopy and industrial implementation. Its headquarters, research, production and service operations are in Wrocław.
From Wrocław to Rochester
Winning Luminate does not simply mean receiving a cheque and returning home.
The $1 million is a follow-on investment, funded by New York State through its Finger Lakes economic-development programme. Gekko says it intends to use the funding to expand its presence around Rochester, manufacture photonic systems locally and support American industrial customers with installation, integration and technical services.
Chief executive Robert Stachurski said Rochester’s concentration of photonics expertise made the region a natural place for Gekko to expand. The company expects the investment to help it recruit engineering and customer-support staff, work with local suppliers and accelerate deployment of its systems in the US.
There is a condition attached to the investment: companies receiving Luminate follow-on funding must establish an operational presence in New York’s Finger Lakes region for at least 18 months.
Luminate is administered by Rochester-based NextCorps and focuses specifically on startups whose technologies depend on optics, photonics, imaging and lasers. After nine cohorts, its portfolio has grown to more than 90 companies, according to organisers.
For Gekko, the route into that portfolio began with a place among 10 startups chosen from applications spanning 33 countries.
Six months later, the Wrocław company left the finals with Luminate NY’s largest investment — and a new base from which to take Polish-developed photonics technology further into American industry.
