Tony Fadell Is Investing In This Micro-LED Startup That Could Make Displays Better

In 2014, Rohinni, a tiny Idaho-based company, came up with a cool invention: on a thin piece of conductive material, thousands of micro-LED diodes (25 microns small) were distributed randomly. The effect was a glowing sheet of paper that could be placed anywhere. It made for a good demo. The company -- cofounders Cody Peterson and Andy Huska and investor Nick Smoot -- got a meeting with Tony Fadell, then still the CEO of Nest, which Google had acquired for $3.2 billion. Fadell was impressed, but he wanted more. Mainly, he wanted the company to be able place these micro-LEDs down with precision and consistency.