News: Optoelectronics
13 January 2025
PHOTON IP raises €4.75m seed funding led by Innovation Industries, joined by Faber, BOM and PhotonDelta
PHOTON IP of Eindhoven, The Netherlands, a manufacturer of low-power optical chips, has raised a €4.75m in a seed funding round, led by Innovation Industries with participation from Faber and Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM) and with funding support from Eindhoven-based photonic chip industry accelerator PhotonDelta. PHOTON IP hence aims to accelerate the industrialization and commercialization of its technology, which is said to efficiently combine silicon photonics with active III-V materials.
As optical communication networks, data centers for AI and sensing applications are critically dependent on optical chips. However, the core technologies available to efficiently integrate multiple materials on a single photonic chip are becoming a fundamental barrier, says the firm. Existing schemes for photonic integration can’t keep pace with delivering the performance, energy efficiency, and small footprint required. PHOTON IP’s technology aims to address this by reinventing the way silicon and various III-V materials such as indium phosphide (for lasers and high-performance modulators) are integrated onto a single photonic chip. The method is said to radically simplify the manufacturing process and open up a path towards mass deployment for advanced low-power optical engines for a wide range of applications.
“We’re not just advancing integrated photonics — we’re simplifying the manufacturing process for photonic circuits as well,” says co-founder & CEO Rui Santos. “With our advanced optical engines, we’re setting a new performance benchmark and eliminating the barriers to efficiently combining III-V materials with silicon. This funding expands our ability to grow our team and bring our first products to market,” he adds.
“By effectively coupling diverse photonic platforms in a mass-manufacturable process, the company aims to deliver high-performing photonic solutions at volume,” comments Vincent Kamphorst, investment director at Innovation Industries. “We look forward to supporting PHOTON IP as they develop.”
The latest fundraising follows the initial investment by Vigo Ventures in 2021 and the first contracts won with customers worldwide, for which the first products are being co-developed and tested. PHOTON IP says that, since being founded in 2020, its pan-European team has received recognition for its innovation, including grant support of more than €2m from the European Innovation Council.
Integrated Photonics System Roadmap unveiled, led by PhotonDelta and MIT Microphotonics Center
