Funding profile · Surgical navigation

Illuminant Surgical

An $8.4 million seed was announced in April 2026. About a third of that total is federal grant money already on the books, and the SEC has no record of the company at all.

$8.4MSeed round announced Apr 30, 2026, company-reported
$2.93MFederal grants on record from NSF and NIH, about 35% of the announced total
0Form D notices on file with the SEC, and zero EDGAR full text hits
$1.25MLargest single award, NSF SBIR Phase II, Aug 2025

Data as of September 22, 2026. Company-reported figures are labeled.

Rounds at a glance

When Round Amount Investors Source
Summer 2022 Y Combinator batch Not disclosed Y Combinator YC data
Jan 2024 NSF SBIR Phase I, award 2321906 $274,865 National Science Foundation NSF record
Sep 2024 NIH SBIR Phase I, R43AG085917 $294,992 National Institute on Aging NIH record
Aug 2025 NSF SBIR Phase II, award 2507300 $1,250,000 National Science Foundation NSF record
Sep 2025 NIH SBIR Phase II, R44CA310355 $1,107,943 National Cancer Institute NIH record
Apr 2026 Seed $8,400,000 announced Led by Wing 2 Wing Ventures; Elderberry Ventures, Soma Capital, DRF, and NSF, NCI and NIA named in the release Company release

What the filings show

Securities filings · searched Sep 22, 2026

Entity search
EDGAR company search for names beginning Illuminant, all form types: no matching companies
Full text
EDGAR full text search for the phrase Illuminant Surgical: 0 hits
Form D
None. No Regulation D notice supports the announced seed
Filing
SEC EDGAR, no CIK assigned

National Science Foundation · SBIR Phase II 2507300 · effective Aug 15, 2025

Obligated
$1,250,000, all in FY2025
Period
Aug 15, 2025 to Jul 31, 2027
Instrument
Cooperative agreement, NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships
PI
James B Hu
Awardee address
855 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94301
Scope
Camera-projector navigation for minimally invasive spine procedures, through bench validation of a prototype

National Cancer Institute · R44CA310355 · FY2025

Award
$1,107,943
Period
Sep 12, 2025 to Aug 31, 2028
PI
James Hu, listed by NIH RePORTER as co-founder, chief medical officer
Scope
Scanner agnostic image-guided biopsy using SkinDots fiducials and projection mapping
Filing
NIH RePORTER, UEI WFETJLHB6MQ4

Earlier federal awards · FY2024

NSF Phase I
Award 2321906, $274,865, Jan 15, 2024 to Oct 31, 2024
NIA Phase I
R43AG085917, $294,992, Sep 15, 2024 to Jan 12, 2026
Scope
Projection platform for lumbar spine, then a deformable registration pipeline with cadaveric testing
PI
James Hu on both

Reading the filings

  1. No Form D supports the $8.4 million.A Regulation D offering requires a Form D within 15 days of first sale. As of September 22, 2026 EDGAR holds no company named Illuminant and no document containing the phrase Illuminant Surgical. Issuers that sell under Section 4(a)(2) rather than Regulation D file no Form D, so the absence is not proof that no money moved. It does mean the round’s terms and investor count cannot be verified.
  2. About 35 percent of the announced round is grant money.The four federal awards total $274,865 plus $294,992 plus $1,250,000 plus $1,107,943, or $2,927,800. Divided by $8,400,000 that is 34.9 percent. The press release lists the NSF, the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Aging alongside venture firms as sources of investment, but SBIR awards are grants and cooperative agreements, not purchases of equity.
  3. The grants predate the round.All four awards were obligated between January 2024 and September 2025. The seed was announced on April 30, 2026. Three of the four were still active on that date, which means the $8.4 million figure sums capital committed across more than two years rather than a single closing.
  4. The public record places the company in three cities.NSF and NIH list the awardee at 855 El Camino Real, Palo Alto. Two 2023 journal articles list Illuminant Surgical in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The website, the 2025 papers and the 2026 coverage list Los Angeles, most recently a 12,000 square foot headquarters opened in June 2026.
  5. Titles differ between the federal record and the press.NIH RePORTER records James Hu as co-founder and chief medical officer on the 2025 NCI award. The April 2026 release and subsequent coverage call him co-founder and co-CEO alongside Eldrick Millares. Both can be true across time; only the NIH entry is a filing.
  6. There is no revenue to model.The company’s own site states the product is not available for sale or commercial use, and no FDA clearance exists. Every dollar raised is funding pre-submission engineering, verification and validation work.

Commercial signals

Signal Detail Source type
Regulatory No 510(k) or PMA on file. Company says production-equivalent units for an FDA submission were completed by June 2026. Public record
Clinical evidence No registered trial. One 2023 proof-of-concept study using an anatomic model and 20 medical students. Three further papers analyze the field rather than the device. Public record
Facility 12,000 square foot Los Angeles headquarters with R&D labs, pilot manufacturing lines and a BSL-2 cadaver lab, opened June 2026. Company-stated
Headcount 11, per the Y Combinator company profile. Company-stated
Market sizing Company estimates a $5.6 to $6 billion opportunity across spine, interventional radiology and pain management, and cites more than 1.7 million US spine procedures a year. Company-stated
Competition Medtronic cleared its Stealth AXiS planning, navigation and robotics platform on Feb 13, 2026. Globus Medical continues to extend Excelsius navigation. Public record

What to watch

  • A Form D, which would be the first securities filing of any kind for this issuer.
  • A restated funding total that separates equity from the $2,927,800 of federal grants.
  • The 510(k) submission and the predicate device it names.
  • Whether the NSF Phase II milestone, a validated prototype by July 2027, is met on schedule.

The Illuminant Surgical story on Healthcare DiscoveryHealthcare Discovery

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Sources

  1. Public recordSEC EDGAR company search and full text search for Illuminant SurgicalSEC · Sep 22, 2026
  2. Public recordNSF award 2507300, SBIR Phase IINSF · Aug 15, 2025
  3. Public recordNSF award 2321906, SBIR Phase INSF · Jan 15, 2024
  4. Public recordNIH RePORTER 1R44CA310355-01NCI · FY2025
  5. Public recordNIH RePORTER 1R43AG085917-01A1NIA · FY2024
  6. Public recordopenFDA 510(k) and PMA searches, applicant IlluminantFDA · Sep 22, 2026
  7. Public recordMedtronic receives FDA clearance for Stealth AXiS surgical systemMedtronic News · Feb 13, 2026
  8. IndependentIlluminant Surgical raises $8.4M for image-based surgical guidanceAuntMinnie · Apr 30, 2026
  9. IndependentIlluminant Surgical Raises $8.4M in Seed FundingFinSMEs · Apr 30, 2026
  10. IndependentStanford-Founded Illuminant Surgical Backed by $8.4M to Revolutionize Image-Guided CareLos Angeles Times · Jul 1, 2026
  11. InterviewThe Memo: Illuminant Surgical Bringing X-Ray Vision to the BodyLife Science Intelligence · Jan 2026
  12. CompanyGiving Doctors X-Ray Vision: Illuminant Surgical Raises $8.4MPR Newswire · Apr 30, 2026
  13. CompanyIlluminant Surgical Cuts Ribbon On New Nexus Headquartersilluminant.ai · Jun 2026
  14. CompanyIlluminant Surgical company profile and team sizeY Combinator · accessed Sep 22, 2026

Compiled from SEC, NSF, NIH and FDA public records and published reports as of September 22, 2026. Form D notices report offerings under Regulation D; amounts reflect the filing date and may not capture later sales. Healthcare Venture Capital Fund holds no position in Illuminant Surgical. This page is not an offer to sell or a recommendation to buy any security.