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Seasoned manufacturing software executive elevated to lead commercial growth as Laminar accelerates global expansion
BOSTON, May 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Laminar, the only AI platform that powers fully autonomous process manufacturing — today announced Sanjay Rajan, Head of Go-to-Market, as Chief Revenue Officer. As CRO, Rajan will guide Laminar's sales, go-to-market, partner, and marketing strategy as Laminar continues a trajectory of rapid global growth.
Rajan joined Laminar in 2025 as Head of Go-to-Market, where he shaped the company's commercial strategy following a Series A fundraise, driving adoption of Laminar's Chemical-Process AI among the world's leading manufacturers. The company expanded its growth across midmarket and global enterprise companies in verticals including Food & Beverage, Health & Beauty, Consumer Packaged Goods, Adhesives, Pharmaceuticals, and Chemicals.
"The need for truly autonomous factories has never been greater as process manufacturers around the globe face increasing margin compression due to macroeconomic factors like rising input costs, loss of expertise, and geopolitical risk," said Annie Lu, Laminar Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder. "Since joining Laminar in 2025, Sanjay has accelerated Laminar's global footprint as we enable more customers to address their production capacity constraints and improve margins. By expanding Sanjay's leadership to our entire revenue function, Laminar will be stronger and ready to meet this incredible market demand."
Rajan brings more than 20 years of B2B software experience across manufacturing verticals, with deep expertise spanning manufacturing execution systems (MES), product lifecycle management (PLM), IoT, and AI/ML solutions. His career spans every wave of manufacturing technology innovation over the last three decades, experience that will benefit Laminar as the company is poised to revolutionize process manufacturing with its full stack solution, ML models, and advanced sensors.
"All of today's Industrial AI focus is on Physical AI in discrete manufacturing — robots navigating space and automating human motion. But process manufacturing has a different challenge: continued reliance on human expert intervention to continuously interpret process conditions and manually correct operations in real time," says Sanjay Rajan, Laminar Chief Revenue Officer. "Laminar's Chemical-Process AI changes that by first sensing real-time fluid conditions, reasoning the optimal action, and then acting to ensure every cycle runs on the best conditions. I'm thrilled to step into this role as Laminar continues its mission to transform the industry with our first-of-its-kind AI platform that powers fully autonomous process manufacturing."
Fueling Growth with $12.4M Series A
In June 2025, Laminar (as H2Ok Innovations) announced a $12.42M Series A round of funding led by Greycroft, with participation from 2048 Ventures and Construct Capital. The funding accelerated Laminar's ability to bring its technology to globally scale its Chemical-Process AI Platform that transforms manufacturing processes from clean-in-place to product changeovers.
Ongoing Recognition for Laminar's Innovation
The company recently received the 2026 Edison Award's Gold Award for the Manufacturing & Logistics category, was named AB InBev's 2024 Cheers Award for outstanding startup partnership, and earned Unilever's 2023 Supplier Startup of the Year. Laminar's solution is also deployed in World Economic Forum Lighthouse factories — a select group recognized for their leadership in cutting-edge industrial technology.
Headquartered at Greentown Labs in Somerville, MA — North America's leading cleantech community, Laminar is a woman-founded startup backed by top-tier investors, including Greycroft, Construct Capital, 2048 Ventures, and Flybridge Capital.
About Laminar
Laminar's Chemical-Process AI Platform enables the world's leading manufacturers to run self-driving factories with more sustainable, efficient operations. Our patented spectral sensors and complete library of ML models transform manual operations into self-driving processes that cut water, chemicals, and downtime in real time. Deployed in factories across six continents and trusted by global leaders like AB InBev, Coca-Cola, and Unilever, Laminar is building a new category of physical AI that will power the future of process manufacturing. Learn more at runlaminar.com
Seasoned manufacturing software executive elevated to lead commercial growth as Laminar accelerates global expansion
BOSTON, May 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Laminar, the only AI platform that powers fully autonomous process manufacturing — today announced Sanjay Rajan, Head of Go-to-Market, as Chief Revenue Officer. As CRO, Rajan will guide Laminar's sales, go-to-market, partner, and marketing strategy as Laminar continues a trajectory of rapid global growth.
Rajan joined Laminar in 2025 as Head of Go-to-Market, where he shaped the company's commercial strategy following a Series A fundraise, driving adoption of Laminar's Chemical-Process AI among the world's leading manufacturers. The company expanded its growth across midmarket and global enterprise companies in verticals including Food & Beverage, Health & Beauty, Consumer Packaged Goods, Adhesives, Pharmaceuticals, and Chemicals.
"The need for truly autonomous factories has never been greater as process manufacturers around the globe face increasing margin compression due to macroeconomic factors like rising input costs, loss of expertise, and geopolitical risk," said Annie Lu, Laminar Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder. "Since joining Laminar in 2025, Sanjay has accelerated Laminar's global footprint as we enable more customers to address their production capacity constraints and improve margins. By expanding Sanjay's leadership to our entire revenue function, Laminar will be stronger and ready to meet this incredible market demand."
Rajan brings more than 20 years of B2B software experience across manufacturing verticals, with deep expertise spanning manufacturing execution systems (MES), product lifecycle management (PLM), IoT, and AI/ML solutions. His career spans every wave of manufacturing technology innovation over the last three decades, experience that will benefit Laminar as the company is poised to revolutionize process manufacturing with its full stack solution, ML models, and advanced sensors.
"All of today's Industrial AI focus is on Physical AI in discrete manufacturing — robots navigating space and automating human motion. But process manufacturing has a different challenge: continued reliance on human expert intervention to continuously interpret process conditions and manually correct operations in real time," says Sanjay Rajan, Laminar Chief Revenue Officer. "Laminar's Chemical-Process AI changes that by first sensing real-time fluid conditions, reasoning the optimal action, and then acting to ensure every cycle runs on the best conditions. I'm thrilled to step into this role as Laminar continues its mission to transform the industry with our first-of-its-kind AI platform that powers fully autonomous process manufacturing."
Fueling Growth with $12.4M Series A
In June 2025, Laminar (as H2Ok Innovations) announced a $12.42M Series A round of funding led by Greycroft, with participation from 2048 Ventures and Construct Capital. The funding accelerated Laminar's ability to bring its technology to globally scale its Chemical-Process AI Platform that transforms manufacturing processes from clean-in-place to product changeovers.
Ongoing Recognition for Laminar's Innovation
The company recently received the 2026 Edison Award's Gold Award for the Manufacturing & Logistics category, was named AB InBev's 2024 Cheers Award for outstanding startup partnership, and earned Unilever's 2023 Supplier Startup of the Year. Laminar's solution is also deployed in World Economic Forum Lighthouse factories — a select group recognized for their leadership in cutting-edge industrial technology.
Headquartered at Greentown Labs in Somerville, MA — North America's leading cleantech community, Laminar is a woman-founded startup backed by top-tier investors, including Greycroft, Construct Capital, 2048 Ventures, and Flybridge Capital.
About Laminar
Laminar's Chemical-Process AI Platform enables the world's leading manufacturers to run self-driving factories with more sustainable, efficient operations. Our patented spectral sensors and complete library of ML models transform manual operations into self-driving processes that cut water, chemicals, and downtime in real time. Deployed in factories across six continents and trusted by global leaders like AB InBev, Coca-Cola, and Unilever, Laminar is building a new category of physical AI that will power the future of process manufacturing. Learn more at runlaminar.com
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Laminar Names Sanjay Rajan Chief Revenue Officer
At Anker Day 2026, Anker Innovations marks its 15th anniversary by unveiling THUS™ - ANKER's first neural-net Compute-in-Memory AI audio chip - and a new generation of products across soundcore and eufy.
NEW YORK and Bellevue, Wash., May 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Anker Innovations is hosting Anker Day 2026: Where Ultimate Meets Possible, its annual brand event to showcase the newest product launches and technology break-throughs across its portfolio. Where Ultimate Meets Possible will bring together media, retail buyers and key influencers for an exclusive look at what's next in consumer electronics, spanning premium audio, home energy and the smart home appliances.
Where Ultimate Meets Possible will be held at STORIED in New York City, an invite-only experience featuring keynote presentations, hands-on product demonstrations and a deep dive into the company's latest innovations.
Anker Day 2026 debuted innovations across three brands: soundcore's Liberty 5 Pro and Pro Max — the first earbuds powered by Anker's new THUS™ AI chip — alongside VibeOS AI platform and Nebula SpaceFlow; Anker SOLIX's S2000, the world's longest-lasting 2kWh home backup power station; and eufy's EdgeAgent™, a local AI home security agent, plus new baby care products.
Started With Power
Anker was founded in 2011 and released its first product in the following year: a 4,500mAh ultra-slim power bank. It was a modest beginning, but behind it was an engineering conviction that would shape everything that followed. If technology is going to make a meaningful difference in people's lives, it has to be built to the highest possible standard.
2012 - The Beginning
Anker's first product: a 4,500mAh ultra-slim power bank - the start of a commitment to putting well-engineered, reliable power in people's hands.
2013 - PowerIQ™
Introduced PowerIQ™, enabling fast-charging compatibility across both iOS and Android - setting the standard for universal charging intelligence.
2018 - GaN from Aerospace
An early adopter of Gallium Nitride (GaN) from aerospace applications for consumer charging - delivering a 40% size reduction without sacrificing output.
2019 - World's Smallest 18W Charger
Delivered the world's smallest 18W charger at the time - proving that ultimate performance and ultra-compact form are not a trade-off.
2022 - GaNPrime™
Pioneered high-power multi-port chargers with dynamic power distribution - intelligently allocating power across multiple devices simultaneously.
2023 - 240W Wall Charger
Delivered the industry's highest-power 240W wall charger at the time - meeting the demands of the most power-hungry professional setups.
2024 - InstaCord™ & UltraDura™
In 2024, InstaCord™ became Anker's most advanced retractable‑cable technology and UltraDura™ achieved industry‑leading durability.
2025 - GaNPrime™ 2.0 • PowerIQ™ 5.0 • AnkerSense™ View • TurboBoost™
GaNPrime™ 2.0 (most advanced fast charging), PowerIQ™ 5.0 (smartest compatibility), AnkerSense™ View (intelligent display technology), and TurboBoost™ for ultra-fast power bank recharging. The pursuit never stops.
Fifteen years. Eight technology generations. Every breakthrough driven by one and only promise: seeking the ultimate innovation, not as an end in itself, but because technology built to its highest standard is how we put the possibilities people want in their lives within reach. Technology in service of people. That is what this pursuit has always meant.
Today's Milestone: Anker Thus™
For 80 years, chip design has followed the same logic established by John von Neumann in 1945: separate the processor from memory, and shuttle data between them one instruction at a time. For eight decades across mainframes, desktops, and data centers, this model worked. AI breaks that assumption. A neural network draws on millions of learned parameters all at once - and in a wearable device, moving that data between memory and processor consumes more than 90 percent of chip power, leaving almost nothing for actual computation.
THUS™ applies a different principle: embed computation directly inside NOR Flash memory cells, where the model already lives. The model parameters never have to move. The energy previously consumed by data movement is redirected entirely to computation.
The first THUS™ AI chip debuts in earbuds, delivering up to 150 times more AI computing power on the environmental noise cancellation task than Anker's previous-generation flagship earphones.
Clear Calls - the chip's first disclosed feature - runs a large neural network entirely on-device, anchored by eight MEMS microphones and two bone conduction sensors, for a significantly clear call in any environment. Additional AI-powered features including Signature Sound and Voice Control debuted at Anker Day.
"Every AI chip built until now stores the model on one side and does the computation on the other. To think, the device has to carry all those parameters across, many times per second, every single inference. THUS™ puts the computation where the model already lives. The model never has to move again."
- Steven Yang, Founder and CEO, Anker Innovations
THUS™ takes inspiration from "Thus have I heard", a Buddhist phrase that reflects direct transmission - knowledge conveyed as it was experienced, without distortion.
All performance figures are based on internal Anker lab tests. The 150× AI computing power figure applies specifically to the environmental noise cancellation task and reflects the architectural change from rule-based to neural-net AI processing. It is not a general performance claim and does not reflect a process node upgrade. The environmental noise cancellation workload referenced here runs as an on-device neural network model on the first THUS™ chip.
Anker soundcore Liberty 5 Pro: The First Product Powered by Anker Thus™
The soundcore Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max are the first two products to ship with the THUS™ chip. Their positioning is organized around three on-device intelligence layers the chip enables - understanding, adapting, and tuning - each representing a function earbuds could not credibly perform before neural-net AI became viable at this scale. Coming to the market soon.
15 Years, One Promise
From our first power bank to a proprietary AI chip in 2026 - the categories we build in keep expanding, and so does the scope of what technology can do for people's lives. Our promise has been one and only, seeking the ultimate innovation, with the conviction that technology built to its highest standard makes the possibilities people want in their lives the ones they can actually live. Fifteen years is long enough to know that trust is earned slowly. Fifteen years in. The pursuit continues.
About Anker Innovations
Anker Innovations is a global consumer technology company driven by ultimate innovation, creating products that help people power, create, connect, and live more freely. Founded in 2011, Anker Innovations serves more than 200 million consumers across 146 countries and regions. Learn more at anker.com.
DISCLAIMER
*Statements in this news release that are not statements of historical fact may include forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the company. We wish to caution you that such statements are just predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties surrounding competitive and industry conditions, market acceptance for the company's products, risks of litigation, technological changes, developing industry standards and other factors related to the company's businesses. The actions referred to in this press release are not an admission or acknowledgement of any claim or allegation. The Company reserves all of its rights.
** This press release is distributed by PR Newswire through automated distribution system, for which the client assumes full responsibility. **
15 Years of Seeking Ultimate Innovation: From Power Banks to Proprietary AI THUS™ Chip
15 Years of Seeking Ultimate Innovation: From Power Banks to Proprietary AI THUS™ Chip
15 Years of Seeking Ultimate Innovation: From Power Banks to Proprietary AI THUS™ Chip
