Life is all about being cool and keeping up with the latest trends. And that's exactly what Wicue is all about - bringing the power of optical technology to the masses and making it a part of our everyday lives. After all, who wouldn't want to be a part of the future? And that's what Wicue is all about - helping us stay ahead of the curve and keeping things fresh and exciting. That's why they chose the name Wicue - it's all about living life to the fullest and embracing the coolest tech around!

"Starting a business is no easy task," said Dr. Li, recalling the past 9 years with Wicue.

After getting a PhD degree from Kent State University's Liquid Crystal Institute, he joined a start-up technology company in Silicon Valley instead of working at Fortune 500 companies. Kent State University's Liquid Crystal Institute, the most comprehensive research and educational center in the field of liquid crystals, has been hailed as "the cradle of the liquid crystal display". Therefore, he had no trouble finding a stable and high-paying job in the industry. But deep down, he has perceived himself as a daring person with a thirst for adventure.

With excellent research capabilities, Dr. Li was able to get the whole picture of the production process, workflow, and core technology in a short time. Soon he became a team leader in charge of the research and development of all the optical products, and successfully launched a dozen new products together with his team. Four years later, the company went public. This was also the time when he made a decision to return to China and start his own business.

Nobody knew what it could do

Returning to China and starting his own business means saying goodbye to the glamorous life in Silicon Valley and facing more difficulties alone.

"A good attitude is helpful for solving problems, especially when you are single-handed, without a team. Everything needs to start from scratch: organizing an R&D team, seeking funding, and even developing products for a new specific market. Everything is extremely tough."

He decided to focus on flexible liquid crystal films targeting a niche market. Liquid crystal is a polymer material, while flexible liquid crystal films were very rare in the market at that time. No one knew what it could do, and no company specialized in flexible liquid crystal films.

"As a professional in liquid crystal science, I believe liquid crystal can solve various problems, including addressing the pain points of writing blackboards, automotive glass, and architectural glass."

From horse-drawn carriages to high-speed trains, from letters to the Internet, from telephones to smartphones, a myriad of epoch-making products have been invented over the past century and become the necessities of our daily life. These great inventions were often born from small brainstorms. Dr. Li foresaw such a gigantic storm brought by liquid crystal molecules. 

"Spark" of Wicue —— Wicue CCS Stepless Dimming Technology

Technology is not like highbrow art and literature that is difficult for common people to understand, nor a group of technical experts exploring the boundaries of knowledge in solitude; Technology should be amiable and interesting. It should be the "spark" that brings people a cooler life experience.Life needs to be cool — this is also how Wicue originally got its name.

After long-time research, Dr. Li and his team finally discovered the "spark" of Wicue — an innovative flexible liquid crystal film stepless dimming technology, which Dr. Li named Wicue CCS, the acronym for Crystal Clear Switching. This technology allows for a 0.5%–70% transmittance and millisecond-level instant response, ensuring an excellent vision of Wicue liquid crystal films, which are widely used in automotive glass, architectural glass, sunglasses, etc.

UV resistance up to 99.9% brings excellent heat insulation and shading, fully addressing the pain point of strong sunlight exposure in summer. For NEVs that come standard with panoramic sunroof glass, liquid crystal films have almost become the best solution. More importantly, with low cost, mass production, extremely fast response, neutral and uniform color, and flexible substrates that fit different curved surfaces, Wicue CCS almost addresses all problems that confront mainstream dimming technologies.

In addition to the promising B2B market such as the automotive and architectural glass, Wicue CCS technology has also expanded into the consumer market — eyewear. Compared with the traditional chemical dark-colored sunglasses on the market, Wicue Instant Dimming Sunglasses has instant dimming in 0.1 seconds and provides the unique experience of manual light control. For drivers, when entering and exiting garages or tunnels where the light changes instantaneously, it usually takes a few seconds for traditional sunglasses to respond. In this scenario, Wicue sunglasses provide a safer visual experience.

The brightness of glasses is controlled by voltage changes, which also makes Wicue Sunglasses independent of UV sensing, allowing consumers to select the most comfortable and suitable brightness in any scenario and weather condition, which delivers a truly efficient "visible light management". 

Tuning Ideal Light

With more than 100 patented technologies, Dr. Fenghua Li and his team established the world's first roll-to-roll flexible liquid crystal film production line, and became the first place winner in Shenzhen Peacock Program. In the past 9 years, Wicue has also won a raft of honors, including National High-Tech Enterprise and Flexible Liquid Crystal Engineering Technology Center of Guangdong Province. From the angel funding round all the way to the Series B funding, Wicue has established its presence in China and beyond, including Europe, the United States, and Japan.

"It is not easy for a company focusing on materials to grow into a company producing products. Neither is it easy to make a good product." As Wicue further expanded its product portfolio from liquid crystal blackboard to dimming sunglasses, automotive glass, and architectural glass, the "spark" born in an old building has started a prairie fire. Just as Dr. Li has expected, flexible liquid crystal films, an ever-niche product, is playing an ever-increasing role in the field of automotive, construction, education, office, fashion, sports, etc.

"Tuning Ideal Light for Life." This has officially become Wicue's brand vision. Despite constant challenges ahead, the envisioned future life is being realized step by step as per Dr. Li's plan.