Optogan Oy, a startup founded by two Russian physicists, has raised 5 million euro (about $6.7 million) from a team led by Via Venture Partners. The money is set to be used to introduce gallium nitride LEDs to the market, Via said.

Optogan(Helsinki, ) has set out to develop LED’s suitable for general illumination at low cost, the VC company said. The company was founded in 2004 with a research lab at the Helsinki University of Technology and a pilot manufacturing line and production facilities in Dortmund, .

LED-based lights are expected to use between 8 and 10 percent of the energy of filamentary bulbs and between 40 and 50 percent of energy-saving fluorescent lamps. In addition solid-state LED lights could be engineered to have a life of 15 years producing light with the same color spectrum as the sun, Via Venture Partners said.

If all bulbs changed to LED-based lighting it could reduce global energy consumption by 15 percent, Via said.

"With a strong financial partner like Via and the expertise it provides, we are convinced that we will meet our aggressive targets over the coming years and become the leading independent LED chip manufacturer," said Bernd Meyer, chief executive officer of Optogan, in a statement.

Optogan's existing investors VNT Management Oy and Finnish Industry Investment Ltd. also participated in the funding round.

"OptoGan is a good example of a truly global technology startup company. It has been established through intensive collaboration between Helsinki University of Technology and a Russian scientist team. The technology has been developed in by two Russian scientists and the semiconductor production expertise originates from ," said Antti Kummu, investment director at Finnish Industry Investment Ltd.