May 1, 2025
Acuity Acquires Sports Lighting Company, M3 Innovation
Joe Casper's sequel: Another LED sports lighting startup sold to an industry giant
Joe Casper has done it again. Nearly a decade after selling Ephesus Lighting — the company that helped usher LED technology into American stadiums — to Cooper Lighting, Casper has sold his second sports lighting venture, M3 Innovation, to Acuity Inc.
The deal, announced on May 1, adds M3’s modular MAKO lighting platform to Acuity’s growing sports and infrastructure portfolio. The acquisition allows Acuity to offer a retrofittable, high-output sports lighting system built for schools, municipalities, and small stadiums — a sector M3 specifically targeted from the start. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but the acquisition marks the end of M3’s independent run and closes a long and occasionally litigious chapter in Casper’s second act.
Founded in 2019, M3 Innovation was born almost the moment Casper’s non-compete from the Ephesus-Cooper deal expired. Based in Syracuse, New York, M3 focused on bringing modularity, simplified installation, and remote diagnostics to sports lighting — features often lacking in legacy stadium systems. Casper and co-founder Chris Nolan, both veterans of Ephesus, sought to push the technology forward while sidestepping the bureaucratic drag of larger manufacturers.
But the journey from startup to acquisition wasn’t linear — and at one point, it almost ended with Hubbell Lighting.
The Hubbell Deal That Wasn’t
By early 2021, M3 was deep in negotiations with Hubbell for an exclusive distribution partnership. According to M3, the deal had progressed past handshake territory: CAD files, 3D schematics, and internal product roadmaps were all shared under NDA. A term sheet was reportedly signed.
Then the deal fell apart.
In May of that year, M3 filed a federal lawsuit accusing Hubbell of breach of contract and bad faith, claiming the company walked away after extracting valuable trade secrets. The suit alleged that Hubbell used the extended due diligence period to absorb M3’s innovations before deciding to pass on the partnership. The damage claim? Over $50 million.
The case settled out of court in 2022. The terms were never made public. But what’s clear is that Hubbell, once in line to take M3’s technology to market, ultimately walked — and Acuity eventually stepped in.
A Clean Exit, Complicated Past
Casper’s legal entanglements didn’t end with Hubbell. In early 2025, Cooper Lighting — his first buyer — filed a $3.5 million indemnification suit against Joe and Amy Casper personally, tied to the original 2015 Ephesus acquisition. Cooper alleges the Caspers failed to cover legal costs from a separate IP lawsuit, in violation of the sale agreement. That case is still pending in Delaware Chancery Court, where a motion to dismiss is awaiting a ruling.
For his part, Casper has remained mostly quiet during the legal disputes, focusing instead on M3’s technical development and early market wins.
With Acuity now in control, the MAKO system will be folded into the company’s Holophane and Lithonia Lighting brands, distributed through both direct and rep channels. Acuity has framed the acquisition as a natural extension of its growth strategy, aimed at penetrating new verticals and broadening its sports lighting capabilities.
For Casper, it’s another engineered solution handed off to a corporate heavyweight. He built the system, proved the market and walked away before the wiring got tangled. That, too, is kind of an impressive legacy.
