OpenLight secures $34M in Series A funding to advance its AI data center photonics mission

OpenLight, a custom Photonic Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (PASIC) chip design and manufacturing company, has closed its oversubscribed $34 million Series A funding round.

Co-led by Xora Innovation and Capricorn Investment Group, Mayfield, Juniper Networks (now part of HPE), Lam Capital, New Legacy Ventures and K2 Access also participated in the round.

With this funding round complete, OpenLight has successfully transitioned from a Synopsys subsidiary to a venture-backed company, positioning itself to address the growing demand for faster and more energy-efficient data movement in AI data center networks.

“This funding will allow us to scale our operations, deepen our R&D efforts and bring our groundbreaking products to market faster,” said Dr. Adam Carter, CEO of OpenLight. “We believe heterogeneous integrated silicon photonics will transform the way data is processed and transmitted, and we're excited to be at the forefront of this revolution."

Focus on growth

OpenLight currently holds more than 360 patents covering its PDK and the manufacturing of heterogeneously integrated III-V photonics. The OpenLight PDK is already being used by over 20 companies to design and fabricate PASICs across a wide spectrum of applications.

With the new capital in hand, OpenLight will expand its PDK library of active and passive photonics components, including its 400 Gbps modulator and indium phosphide heterogeneously integrated on-chip laser technology.

OpenLight will also ramp up its standards-based reference PICs at 1.6 Tbps and 3.2 Tbps to provide customers with a flexible design library available in the market. In addition, the company will scale its team to support customers as they transition to volume production over the next 12 months.

Phil Inagaki, Managing Partner & Chief Investment Officer, Xora, said, “III-V heterogeneous integration is one of the foundational capabilities” that will enable the growth of photonics.

“One of the critical challenges for the photonics industry in the back half of this decade will be achieving scale, and we see OpenLight's PDK as an important part of the solution,” he said.

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