How the CEO & Founder Built a Premier Red Light Therapy Brand Through Science and Innovation
When Bill Wiedemann founded Lumara Systems on July 1, 2016, he had a clear mission: create red light therapy devices that actually deliver results. As an engineer with 36 years of experience in venture capital-backed companies and an electronic engineering degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Wiedemann brought a unique perspective to an industry that desperately needed his expertise.
“What makes me upset is that most of the red light products people purchase do absolutely nothing!” says Wiedemann from Lumara Systems’ San Jose headquarters. “When I discovered that one of the major companies was delivering products that were less than effective, I set out to make a red light solution that was actually effective.”
Bill Wiedemann of Lumara Systems wins the Best of Tech & Tools award at the recently concluded 2025 Gurus Beauty Awards—photo by Josh Fogel.
The Birth of Lumara: From Garage to Global Recognition
Wiedemann’s journey into red light therapy began when two esthetician friends invited him to a beauty trade show. “They said, ‘There’s a lot of LED products here, but frankly, hardly any of them work. Could you make an LED product that works?
What started in a garage in Los Gatos quickly grew into something much bigger. “We had to move to a building, and then we doubled our space in three months, and then doubled it again six months later,” Wiedemann explains. “When you make a good product, people recognize that it’s good, if they’re discerning, and then they buy it, they see the results, then they tell all their friends.”
The company name itself reflects this mission. Working with his team and a bit of AI, they named the company “Lumara” which means “light that I love”—perfectly capturing their dedication to effective light therapy technology.
Engineering Medical-Grade Excellence
Lumara’s breakthrough came through rigorous engineering. When Wiedemann measured his prototype against top competitors, the results were staggering: “My first product provided 10 times the optical power.” While some competitors delivered less than 2 milliwatts per square centimeter (mw/cm², his approach achieved 20 mw/cm² of uniform energy on the skin—ten times the therapeutic power, and the power was uniform, not the “spotty” coverage that most other products provided.
“You have to have enough power to achieve a result, similar to how I could take a Bic lighter and put it under a pan to try to fry an egg,” Wiedemann explains. “It’s hot enough, but it’s only hot in one spot. You have to have enough power, and you have to have it spread out so you’re going to accomplish the result.”
This led to Lumara’s clinical-grade panels that estheticians use alongside procedures like micro-needling. “Uniform LED energy makes the end result visibly better and cuts the recovery time in half,” he notes.
The VISO Revolution: Second-Generation Technology
When clinical customers requested an LED face mask they could sell to their patients, Wiedemann saw an opportunity to revolutionize the consumer market. The result was VISO—a second-generation mask that took over one year to develop.
“I spent six months reviewing all of the LED masks on the market and then another six months finding a factory to manufacture my uniform energy design,” Wiedemann recalls. “The factories said there’s not going to be enough power in the power supply to run all these LEDs.” After persistent iteration, he found an ODM factory capable of building his vision: closely spaced 660nm LEDs providing 100% uniform coverage.
“660nm equals results,” Wiedemann explains. “This wavelength has the most robust research backing its effectiveness for cellular turnover, improved skin texture, and overall skin health.”
Natalie Malchev (Miss California America) and Maggie Jackson (Mrs. California America) at the Lumara Systems beauty bar at the 2025 Gurus Beauty Awards
The Accidental Discovery: The Five-Day Test
VISO’s most compelling feature emerged through what Wiedemann calls a “happy accident.” Testing his prototype, he lay on his left side during 20-minute treatments for five days. The result was remarkable—the left side of his face showed dramatically better results than the right side. Upon reflection on why the left side showed better results, he determined that the left side of his face was pressing into the mask and getting very good skin contact with the LEDs, while on the right side, the LEDs hovered about ¼ of an inch above the skin.
“I’m not going to try to sell a product that doesn’t work,” he says pragmatically. “It’s really hard to talk about something that doesn’t work and convince people to buy it.” This happy accident revealed that proper device-to-skin contact maximizes therapeutic benefit, leading to the now-famous five-day protocol that delivers visible results.
The Science of Cellular Energy
VISO’s effectiveness lies in delivering what Wiedemann calls “an energy drink for your skin cells.” The 660nm light penetrates deep into skin, stimulating mitochondria—the cellular powerhouses he describes as “hamsters in a hamster wheel.”
“There are several hundred in every skin cell,” he explains, “and they make ATP, adenosine triphosphate, which is the octane that everything runs off of in our body. Everything we’re doing now is because we have been able to make ATP.”
This cellular energy boost, combined with the optimal incubation temperature created by proper mask contact, accelerates collagen production and skin turnover, delivering visible improvements in days rather than months.
Market Validation and Rapid Growth
Since launching VISO at $600, Lumara has experienced explosive growth. The company projects reaching 1,000 units monthly in summer 2025, scaling to 1,000 weekly by year-end, and achieving 1,000 daily in 2026.
Medical professionals validate this technology through their active participation in Lumara’s wholesale program. “Several clinics are selling up to five VISOs each week,” Wiedemann reports. “We have one clinic that buys 75 a month already, and we’ve only been doing this wholesale program for a few months.” These professionals recognize they now have a product that provides visible results. They are happy to have a product in the $500M/year LED face mask market, where everything else can be considered a toy, as they don’t provide uniform coverage.
The clinical adoption represents powerful validation. As Wiedemann notes, these professionals “want to sell products that complement and support the treatments patients are receiving in-clinic, not undermine their credibility with ineffective devices.”
Bill Wiedemann of Lumara Systems accepts the Best of Tech & Tools award at the recently concluded 2025 Gurus Beauty Awards—photo by Ghost Media Photography.
