Powerlase Photonics sells majority stake to Andritz

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Powerlase Photonics, a Soft Landing client of the UCF Business Incubator in Central Florida Research Park, recently sold 50.1% of the company to international technology company Andritz based in Graz, Austria. 

Headquartered in Crawley, West Sussex, England, Powerlase specializes in picosecond and nanosecond high-energy, diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) lasers.  They supply international customers from the photovoltaic, microelectronics, automotive and aerospace industries.

Andritz, a long-time client of Powerlase, has been using their high-energy lasers in its ablation systems for removing coatings from metal — for example, in producing tailored welded blanks in the automotive industry.

The new company name is Andritz Powerlase and it will be based in Crawley.

“This agreement represents a major step forward for Powerlase,” said Dr Young Kwon, managing director at Powerlase.  “It enables us to pursue our ambitious growth plans to be a key provider of high-power lasers for surface preparation, polishing, cleaning, ablating, and many other industrial applications.”

The growth plans include rapidly scaling their North American subsidiary which is located at the Incubator. 

The UCF Business Incubator’s Soft Landing program provides fast growing technology companies who are headquartered outside of Metro Orlando with business support and facilities to quickly set up a Central Florida operation. 

For more information, please visit www.andritz.com and www.powerlase-photonics.com.

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About the UCF Business Incubation Program
The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program is a community resource that provides early-stage companies with the tools, training and infrastructure to become financially stable, high growth/impact enterprises. Since 1999, this award-winning program has helped over 390 local startup companies reach their potential faster by providing vital business development resources.

With seven facilities throughout the region, the UCF Business Incubation Program is an economic development partnership between the University of Central Florida, the Corridor, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia Counties, and the cities of Apopka, Kissimmee, Orlando and Winter Springs. For the 2014/15 and 2015/16 fiscal years, the activities of these participating firms have helped to sustain more than 4,710 local jobs and have had a cumulative impact of over $725 million on regional GDP and over $1.3 billion on regional sales. During the same period, the program has returned $7.41 in state and local taxes for every $1.00 invested in the program.  For more information, visit www.incubator.ucf.edu.