About Wave Lumina
Wave Lumina helps environmental consultants, site investigators and water-treatment teams test water for persistent industrial chemicals at the sample point. Its portable workflow screens long-chain PFAS, often called forever chemicals, in about 20 minutes. Crews use the quantitative result to choose their next sampling locations and select samples for lab confirmation.
Wave Lumina is based in Traverse City, Michigan. Vernon LaLone serves as chief executive officer. The team completed 103 customer-discovery interviews across four buyer groups, including environmental consultants and utilities. It served its first paying customers by December 2025 and plans a 2027 commercial launch. Michigan SBDC supports its move from field validation toward commercial deployment.
Funding Rounds (SEC Form D)
| First sale | Filed with SEC | Amount sold | Investors | Avg. check | Terms | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 28, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 | $250,000fully sold | 1 | $250K | Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE)Rule 506(b) | Form D ↗ |
First sale is the date the first investor in the offering committed to invest. Companies must file Form D within 15 days of that date, so filing dates run later.
Why Investors Backed Wave Lumina
Environmental teams can wait weeks for conventional laboratory PFAS results, slowing sampling and remediation decisions. The National Science Foundation backed Wave Lumina to advance and validate an approach that returns quantitative measurements at the sample point. [6]
Origin and Team
Vernon LaLone founded Wave Lumina in September 2023. Its early work began in a home lab that November, before the company moved into rented chemistry space at Northwestern Michigan College in June 2024. [4]
Product and Technology
Field extraction concentrates long-chain PFAS from a few milliliters of water. The extract goes onto an engineered surface, where a portable reader captures its Raman light response. This process combines surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, or SERS, with machine-learning analysis to calculate contamination levels. Vernon LaLone and John Woodruff invented the patented approach. [1][5]
An on-site result takes about 20 minutes. Groundwater tests showed linearity with an R-squared fit measure of at least 0.98. The tests recovered 65% to 125% of added target material. It screens PFOS, PFOA, PFNA and similar compounds. Regulatory reports still require confirmatory lab analysis. [1]
Wave Lumina designed the sensing platform to add other contaminants over time, including microplastics and pesticides. [2]
Use of Funds
- An NSF SBIR Phase I award of $305,000 funds development of the portable PFAS field sensor. [1]
Milestones
Scroll table to see all columns →
| Date | What happened | Source | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2, 2026 | Wave Lumina received U.S. Patent 12,644,842 for its chemical-concentration measurement method. | [5] | — |
| Apr 21, 2026 | Wave Lumina demonstrated its field-screening device, software and user interface at a TCNewTech event in Traverse City. | [4] | — |
| Mar 24, 2026 | LaLone presented Wave Lumina's rapid PFAS screening work at a Michigan Association of Environmental Professionals meeting. | [4] | — |
| Mar 2, 2026 | The team attended the SERDP/ESTCP Symposium in Washington, DC through March 5. | [4] | — |
| Oct 1, 2025 | Wave Lumina won first place and $35,000 at the Great Lakes Blue Tech Challenge in Chicago. | [4] | — |
| Jul 7, 2025 | LaLone joined the Activate Fellowship's 2025 cohort. | [4] | — |
| Jun 19, 2025 | Wave Lumina received an NSF SBIR award to advance field-ready PFAS screening in water. | [6] | — |
| Dec 4, 2024 | LaLone presented the company's PFAS field-screening work at the DoD Energy and Environment Innovation Symposium. | [4] | — |
| Sep 26, 2024 | Wave Lumina won first place and $10,000 at the Lean Rocket Lab Manufacturing Pitch Competition. | [4] | — |
| Sep 11, 2024 | Wave Lumina won second place and the audience choice award at a TCNewTech pitch competition. | [4] | — |
| Jul 8, 2024 | Wave Lumina joined Michigan State University's Conquer Accelerator. | [4] | — |
| May 15, 2024 | The 2024 AquaAction Aquahacking Challenge recognized Wave Lumina for its rapid on-site PFAS screening work. | [4] | — |
| Mar 4, 2024 | The team attended the AquaAction expedition in Traverse City. | [4] | — |
| Feb 19, 2024 | Wave Lumina placed among the top 64 startups in the Midwest House Startup Competition. | [4] | — |
We wrote this summary from public statements by Wave Lumina and its investors. It is not investment advice.
Leadership Team
Executive officers and directors listed on Wave Lumina's Form D filed Nov 12, 2026.
Sources
- CompanyWave Lumina — On-site PFAS Field Screening · linked above ↑
- CompanyWave Lumina — Our Mission
- CompanyWave Lumina — Contact
- CompanyWave Lumina — News
- CompanyWave Lumina — U.S. patent milestone
- CompanyWave Lumina — NSF award announcement
- SECWave Lumina Form D, filed 2026-11-12 · linked above ↑
- SECWave Lumina Inc. filing history