100 million euros for Smart Photonics
The Dutch foundry for PICs has secured an additional round of funding from a group of strategic industrial and financial players.
With this new investment, Smart Photonics will be able to strengthen its position as manufacturer of next generation chips in a growing, resilient European photonic value chain. The company will use the funds to extend its manufacturing capabilities and accelerate the development of its photonic integrated chip technology platforms and its process design kits (PDKs).
“We are very pleased to be supported by this new group of lenders and are grateful for the continued support of our existing investors,” comments Johan Feenstra, chief executive officer of Smart Photonics. “With this round of funding, we receive strong support from the Dutch ecosystem including strategic lenders and financial institutions in our ambition to become the globally leading foundry for photonics integrated chips (PICs).”
The group of new lenders for Smart Photonics is comprised of strategic players from the semiconductor industry – ASML, NXP, and VDL Groep – as well as financial institutions – ING, BOP Impact Ventures, and Deep Tech Fund, which is part of Invest-NL and partly funded by the ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. Previous investors, including Innovation Industries, BOM, Photondelta and KPN Ventures have joined in this funding round again. The government of the Netherlands will provide sixty million euros public funding as part of the approved National Growth Fund project PhotonDelta as previously announced.
