InP photonic integrated circuit (PIC) and transceiver specialist EFFECT Photonics reveals it has raised $37 million in the first close of its Series C round. New investor Smile Invest and existing backer Innovation Industries Fund led the round. The money will go toward fuller development of EFFECT Photonic’s Manta coherent PIC as well as scale production.
The Manta chip, first taped out a year ago, is in keeping with EFFECT Photonics’ focus on integrating all the optical functions of an optical transceiver into a single PIC for use with low-cost, non-hermetic packaging. “With our disruptive technology, we have already enabled DWDM in high-capacity 5G radio access networks through our low-cost autotuning SFP+ modules, which are deployed around the world,” commented James Regan, CEO of the company. “This funding and our partnership with our investors will allow us to take the next leap forward, bringing even higher capacity ‘coherent’ products to the network edges, as well as scaling existing production.”
EFFECT Photonics has turned its attention to coherent applications after first targeting its InP platform on applications using NRZ and PAM4 signaling (see, for example, “EFFECT Photonics offers 100G transceivers based on InP photonic integration” and “EFFECT Photonics demos 500-Gbps PAM4 TOSA”). “Conventional coherent approaches require external narrow-linewidth tunable lasers and amplification, wasting light and adding cost, space, and power consumption,” explained Tim Koene, CTO at EFFECT Photonics. “Already demonstrated to key customers, the non-hermetic Manta prototypes integrate all of these functions on a single chip, bringing a revolution in low electrical power consumption together with high optical output power – high transmission performance in a small form factor that will enable the next generation of edge network capacity.”
“We see in EFFECT Photonics a company with unique technology, with a team that has shown that they can also convert this into innovative products for a fast-growing market,” said Bart Cauberghe, managing partner at Smile Invest. “In that respect, the company fits perfectly in the activities of Smile Invest, given our focus on innovative, ambitious companies that have the potential to become the market leader in their segment. We are delighted to be joining with the strong group of existing investors”.
EFFECT Photonics is headquartered in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, with additional R&D and manufacturing in the southwest UK. In addition to Smile Invest and Innovation Industries Fund, other investors in EFFECT Photonics include Photon Delta, btov Partners, Brabant Development Agency (BOM), and individuals (see "EFFECT Photonics closes Series B funding round" and "EFFECT Photonics tops off Series B funding round").
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