Scotland's Intense Photonics has closed a £10.5m series B funding round, led by Cazenove Private Equity with a syndicate including 3i and ACT Venture Capital (which participated in the £10m first-round) together with FNI Venture Capital and TTP Ventures.

Intense will accelerate development of its quantum well intermixing-based products and strengthen marketing. Developing such components in conjunction with the systems houses requires significant capital equipment and several design iterations, it says. The funding will carry the company through to the generation of positive free cash flow "against almost all planning scenarios," reckons CEO David Lockwood.

3i's Robin Winning said, "the difficulties in the technology capital markets conceal the fact that there are many sound businesses developing global technologies."