What Luminary Labs does

Luminary Labs is a privately held strategy and innovation consultancy founded in 2009 by Sara Holoubek and headquartered in New York City. The firm operates as an LLC and is certified as a woman-owned small business, which provides preferential access to federal contracting vehicles including the NASA Tournament Lab contract underpinning much of its government work. Its core product is bespoke consulting, organized around four focus areas: the future of work and education, the future of health, scientific discovery, and infrastructure. The firm specializes in 'thorny problems' — multi-stakeholder public, private, and philanthropic challenges — with practice areas spanning open-innovation program design, prize-competition administration, strategic foresight, stakeholder convening, and editorial thought leadership (the Nowcasting series and the Lab Report newsletter).

The company has no disclosed software product, algorithm, or AI/ML platform; its intellectual property is procedural and reputational, embedded in its 15-year track record and convening power. Since inception it has addressed over 120 problems for clients and designed open-innovation programs representing more than $350 million in potential incentives, including marquee multi-phase initiatives such as the LymeX Diagnostics Prize with HHS and the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, the KidneyX Sustainability Prize with the American Society of Nephrology, the Neuromod Prize, and NASA challenges including MagQuest and TechLeap.

Luminary Labs generates revenue primarily through project-based and retainer consulting engagements sold directly to enterprise, government, and nonprofit clients by senior relationship managers (no self-serve or marketplace channel). Named clients span nine major pharmaceutical companies (Pfizer, Sanofi, Roche, Novartis, AstraZeneca, Merck, Janssen, Celgene, Vertex), more than ten U.S. federal agencies (NASA, NIH, HHS, FDA, BARDA, VA, CDC, Department of Education, NGA, Coast Guard, DHS), and a deep base of philanthropic foundations (Walton, Robert Wood Johnson, Bezos Earth Fund, Schmidt Futures, Siegel, Cohen, Moore, Joyce, Grand Victoria, Heritage Provider Network, Humanity United, and others). Pricing is negotiated by engagement scope and is not publicly disclosed.

Name

Luminary Labs

Legal name

Luminary Labs LLC

Website

https://luminary-labs.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Luminary Labs is a New York-based strategy and innovation consultancy that designs open-innovation programs, prize competitions, and strategic advisory engagements for U.S. federal agencies, major pharmaceutical companies, and philanthropic foundations across health, work, education, science, and infrastructure.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Strategy and Innovation Consulting

NAICS

Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Makerspaces & Fab Labs (Open Build Studios) (EDAMADAC)

Keywords

• Innovation consulting
• Strategy consulting
• Open innovation programs
• Prize competitions
• Federal contracting

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Strategy and Innovation Consulting: Luminary Labs generates revenue through client engagements for strategy consulting and innovation program design. Services include identifying opportunities, facilitating decision-making, and designing/managing open innovation programs and prize competitions on behalf of public, private, and nonprofit clients. Revenue is likely project-based or retainer-driven.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Luminary Labs is a strategy and innovation consultancy that helps Fortune 500 companies, federal agencies, and philanthropic foundations identify opportunities, make high-stakes decisions, and launch groundbreaking programs. Its core work spans designing and producing open innovation programs (prize competitions, accelerators, and challenges), strategic advisory across future-of-work, future-of-health, scientific discovery, and infrastructure focus areas, and editorial thought leadership via its Nowcasting series and Lab Report newsletter.

Product overview

Luminary Labs is a strategy and innovation consultancy that operates as a single unified service offering rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. Their core offerings include strategy and innovation consulting, open innovation program design (prize competitions and challenges), the Nowcasting thought leadership series, and the Lab Report newsletter. They work across four focus areas: the future of work and education, the future of health, scientific discovery, and infrastructure. The company is a certified woman-owned small business founded in 2009, based in New York City, with notable programs including the LymeX Diagnostics Prize, KidneyX Sustainability Prize, Neuromod Prize, and NASA TechLeap challenges.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategy and Innovation Consulting Strategy and innovation consulting services that help enterprise, government, and nonprofit clients identify opportunities, make high-stakes decisions, and launch groundbreaking programs across four focus areas: future of work and education, future of health, scientific discovery, and infrastructure.
• Open Innovation Programs Design and production of open innovation programs including prize competitions, accelerators, and challenges for enterprise, government, and nonprofit clients; programs led by Luminary Labs represent more than $350 million in potential incentives for accelerating effective, scalable solutions.
• Government Contracts Strategic consulting services delivered through federal contract vehicles, supporting U.S. government agencies including NASA, NIH, CDC, FDA, HHS, VA, Department of Education, BARDA, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Quantifiable outcome

• Addressed over 120 problems on behalf of public, private, and nonprofit organizations
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers34 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered notable, core, major and minor.

• UC Berkeley School of Public HealthnotableStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 June 2026Sara Holoubek, Luminary Labs' Founding Partner, was selected as a UC Berkeley School of Public Health Impact Fellow for the 2026-2027 academic year as part of the third cohort. During the fellowship, she will focus on building an abundant future in a majority-older America, mentoring students and collaborating with faculty.
• Sara HoloubekcoreOthers · 7 January 2026Sara Holoubek is the Founding Partner of Luminary Labs, having founded the company in 2009 and served as CEO through 2025. She transitioned to the role of Founding Partner and Executive Advisory in January 2026 as Janna Gilbert assumed the CEO role. Sara remains an equity partner and continues to serve on client engagements while offering executive advisory services.
• Janna GilbertcoreOthers · 7 January 2026Janna Gilbert joined Luminary Labs in 2013, was promoted to President in 2019, became a Partner in 2024, and was named CEO in January 2026. She is responsible for day-to-day management across all functions, focus areas, and capabilities of the firm. She and Sara Holoubek continue as Partners and equity owners of the independent firm.
• LabcorpmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2024Labcorp was named an industry supporter for the LymeX Diagnostics Prize Phase 3. It provided non-financial in-kind support including clinical laboratory subject matter expertise, facility visits, and participation in an Industry Day virtual event hosted with Quest Diagnostics to help Phase 3 teams understand the diagnostics industry and clinical laboratory environment.
• Quest DiagnosticsmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2024Quest Diagnostics was named an industry supporter for the LymeX Diagnostics Prize Phase 3 alongside Labcorp. It provided non-financial in-kind support including clinical laboratory expertise and facility visits for Phase 3 teams developing Lyme disease diagnostic solutions.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022HHS is a core government partner through the Lyme Innovation Accelerator (LymeX), a public-private partnership co-led with the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation. Luminary Labs designed the LymeX Diagnostics Prize through a NASA Tournament Lab contract with HHS. The partnership accelerates development of Lyme disease diagnostics and nurtures solutions toward FDA review across multiple phases.
• Steven & Alexandra Cohen FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation is a co-lead of the LymeX public-private partnership with HHS and has pledged more than $10 million to fund the LymeX Diagnostics Prize (Phases 1-4). Phase 3 and Phase 4 are sponsored by the foundation through a fiscal sponsorship with the Digital Harbor Foundation. The foundation also co-sponsors the KidneyX Sustainability Prize.
• Digital Harbor FoundationmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021The Digital Harbor Foundation serves as the fiscal sponsor for LymeX Diagnostics Prize Phases 3 and 4, which are funded by the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation. This fiscal sponsorship structure enables the foundation's pledge to be administered through a nonprofit intermediary.
• Mount Sinai (Leon and Norma Hess Center for Science and Medicine)minorOthersMount Sinai's Leon and Norma Hess Center for Science and Medicine hosted the LymeX Diagnostics Prize Phase 3 Demo Day in November 2024, where the six Phase 3 teams presented their diagnostic concepts.
• American Society of NephrologymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe American Society of Nephrology is a client and partner through the KidneyX Sustainability Prize, a partnership to accelerate kidney care innovation and make dialysis treatment more resilient and resource-efficient.
• NASAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLuminary Labs holds a NASA Tournament Lab contract and has designed multiple NASA innovation challenges including the MagQuest competition (collecting geomagnetic data for the World Magnetic Model) and the TechLeap challenge (in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing payloads). NASA is one of the firm's longest-standing government clients.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• HeroX: HeroX is an open innovation platform that operates crowdsourced prize competitions and challenges, directly comparable to Luminary Labs' flagship open innovation program design business serving federal and enterprise clients.
• NineSigma: NineSigma is an open innovation services firm that designs and manages technology scouting and challenge programs for enterprise and government sponsors, overlapping with Luminary Labs' prize competition and open innovation practice.
• Yet2: Yet2 is an open innovation services firm that runs technology scouting and challenge-based engagements for large enterprises, mirroring the consulting-led open innovation model Luminary Labs uses for pharma and government clients.
• Wazoku (formerly InnoCentive): Wazoku operates an open innovation platform and challenge services practice that competes with Luminary Labs' prize competition and open innovation program design, particularly for enterprise and public-sector sponsors.
• IdeaConnection: IdeaConnection runs open innovation challenges and crowdsourced problem-solving engagements for clients seeking external expertise, comparable in service model to Luminary Labs' challenge design work.
• WhatIf! Innovation Partners: WhatIf! is an innovation consultancy that designs and delivers corporate innovation programs and capability-building engagements, comparable in spirit to Luminary Labs' interdisciplinary 'thorny problems' approach.

Broad incumbents

• Innosight (Huron): Innosight is a strategy and innovation consultancy (now part of Huron) that advises enterprises on disruptive innovation and growth strategy, overlapping with Luminary Labs' strategy consulting and future-of-X advisory offerings.
• Doblin (Deloitte): Doblin is Deloitte's dedicated innovation strategy practice, offering similar strategy consulting and innovation program design to Luminary Labs but with substantially greater scale and broader service portfolio.
• Fahrenheit 212 (KPMG): Fahrenheit 212 is KPMG's innovation consultancy practice that designs and executes corporate innovation programs, directly comparable in offering to Luminary Labs but operating under a Big Four platform.

Emerging players

• Institute for the Future: Institute for the Future is a nonprofit foresight research organization that publishes long-horizon trend analysis and convenes leaders, overlapping with Luminary Labs' Nowcasting series and future-of-health/work advisory work.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/1104370
• Xx.com/luminarylabs

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments7 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Luminary Labs