The NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) — the €1bn vehicle backed by 24 NATO allies to invest in deeptech startups and investors — has co-led a €25m Series A in Cambridge, UK-based photonics startup Camgraphic.
Italy’s CDP Venture Capital, Sony Innovation Fund — Japanese conglomerate Sony’s CVC arm — and Berlin-based early-stage VC firm Join Capital also co-led the round. Other investors included Bosch Ventures, Frontier IP Group and Indaco Venture Partners.
Camgraphic is building a type of graphene microchip that uses light and electrical signals to transmit data in a way that it says is faster, cheaper and more energy efficient than silicon-based alternatives. Applications will involve things like AI and high-performance computing, satellite point to point communications, autonomous cars and radar imaging.
Camgraphic’s CEO Ben Jensen tells Sifted the round took eight months to close and was raised by Camgraphic’s parent company, 2D Photonics Sa. The money will be used to develop the startup’s research and development operations in Pisa and establish a pilot manufacturing line in Milan.
Jensen says he expects commercial applications of the tech to be ready in the next few years.
How does graphene photonics work and what does it do?
Photonics is the name for the technology which turns data into light to move it down fibre-optic cables. Currently, silicon is widely used in photonic circuits, which are used in systems like AI and high-performance computers and 5G and 6G communications.
But there are challenges with silicon photonics. The material has a band gap, meaning electrons cannot move freely, and a low extinction ratio, meaning the difference between “on” and “off” states of the light signal is small. These issues lead to distorted signals as well as high latency — delays between sending and receiving signals.
“Silicon photonics today is performing amazingly, but it has a finite future because you can only go so far with it,” Jensen says. “Given the rapid rise in data consumption for AI, and the rapid rise in data consumption for 5G and 6G, the existing incumbent material is being stretched severely.” This necessitates “more and more complicated architectures to get more and more data through.”
Graphene, by contrast, allows for a more “simple architecture that can deliver much more data throughput at a much better cost,” Jensen says. As it is a “gapless material” (meaning no band gap) it has greater scalability, as well as no risk of latency and bandwidth issues, Jensen says.
What will Camgraphic do with the money?
The company is looking to further develop its technology, scale it and then outsource manufacturing before selling to customers.
It’s currently looking to hire a chief financial officer, and Jensen predicts that its team will grow from 17 to 34 over the next 12 months, and then to 68 in two years’ time.
Ben Balmforth, senior associate at NATO Innovation Fund, Antonio Avitabile, managing director of the EU at Sony Investment Fund, Sebastian von Ribbentrop founding partner at Join Capital, Gianmarco Del Bono, investment manager at CDP Venture Capital; and Neil Crabb, CEO of Frontier IP, have all joined the company’s board as part of the round.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/exclusive-nato-innovation-fund-leads-e25m-series-a-in-photonics-startup-camgraphic/
