DWDM optical components developer EFFECT Photonics says it has completed its Series C funding with an additional $6 million from the Dutch impact investor Invest-NL. The new cash infusion raises the total for the round to $43 million.
EFFECT Photonics, which spun out from the Netherlands’ Eindhoven University of Technology in 2014 with an emphasis on InP-based photonic integration, has developed range of optical transceivers based on its own photonic integrated circuits (PICs; see, for example, "EFFECT Photonics offers 100G transceivers based on InP photonic integration"). Its latest advance is the Manta PIC, which the company asserts provides all the necessary photonic functions for coherent transmission applications.
The company announced the initial close of $37 million in Series C funding last month (see "EFFECT Photonics adds $37 million in Series C funding"). Smile Invest co-led that round with existing investor Innovation Industries Fund. Other investors in the company include Photon Delta, btov Partners, Brabant Development Agency (BOM), and individual investors.
EFFECT Photonics says the new money will go toward expanding its product line to address applications such as 5G networks, increasing production capacity, and funding R&D of its the next generation of PICs that the company expects will support capacities greater than 400 Gbps.
“As a company, we have come a long way to make the photonics technology market-ready. We are pleased that Invest-NL is joining our other investors in helping us scale up our production and enabling us to bring additional products to market quicker,” commented Boudewijn Docter, one of the founders and president of EFFECT Photonics.
“The Netherlands has a unique ecosystem for photonics technologies,” added Ruud Zandvliet, senior investment manager at Invest-NL. “EFFECT Photonics is a leading player in this field, capable of developing complex, fully integrated photonic chips. This offers the company the opportunity be a leading player as a manufacturer of the next generation of transceivers. By joining this investment round, Invest-NL contributes to the availability of financing for upscaling and future R&D investments. This is a good example of the role Invest-NL plays in increasing the strength of scale-ups and is in line with our objective of making the Netherlands more sustainable and innovative.”
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