Top £4.9bn! Top optical startups funded in 2022
As 2022 draws to a close, GZH has counted the funding of optical startups around the world this year. To date, we have counted 77 funding rounds totalling US$8.7 billion globally, averaging over US$100 million each, with Chinese companies raising an estimated 50 rounds for just under US$1 billion (most Chinese companies do not disclose the exact amount), which is below the global average, mainly due to UK fibre operator CityFibre raising a whopping £4.9 billion (nearly US$6 billion).
In terms of financing rounds, most of them are still in the early stage, including 14 in Series A, 10 in Series B, 21 around Series A or B, and 13 in Series C and beyond. There is also a large amount of early stage financing in the equity financing category, but it is not stated which round is A or B.
Top 10 companies with funding profiles.
CityFibre
Founded: 2011
Amount: £4.9 billion
Round: Debt financing
In June 2022, CityFibre, the UK's largest independent operator-neutral all-fibre platform, announced that the company had confirmed a debt programme totalling £4.9bn. The funding consists of a £3.9 billion Committed facility and a £1 billion Accordion facility, all of which will be used to fund CityFibre's fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) expansion plans. cityFibre says this is the largest full fibre deployment financing project in Europe Everstream.
Everstream
Founded: 2014
Country: USA
Amount: US$1 billion
Round: Debt financing
Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, US-based business fibre network operator Everstream offers enterprise-grade fibre networks with the speed, reliability, scale and performance required by today's businesses.Everstream's enterprise-grade network currently connects over 27,000 miles of fibre lines at speeds of up to 100 Gbps, providing robust of business fibre services, including Internet, WAN, data centre connectivity and dark fibre. In April this year Everstream closed over $1 billion in debt financing to continue funding its network expansion and deployment across 10 states.
VulcanForms
Founded: 2015
Country: United States
Amount: $355 million
Round: Equity financing
Burlington-based VulcanForms was co-founded in 2015 by MIT researchers Martin Feldmann and Professor John Hart and is located near the Oxford, Massachusetts headquarters of US fibre laser giant IPG Photonics. The two founders of the company have succeeded in digitally manufacturing lasers with a power of 100 kW based on their patented method, of which IPG Photonics is one of the few known suppliers. The company has successfully captured $355 million in venture capital to expand additive manufacturing using high-power lasers. VulcanForms is currently valued at over $1 billion.
Ayar Labs
Founded: 2015
Country: USA
Amount: US$130 million
Round: Series C
Founded in 2015, Ayar Labs is funded by a number of domestic and international venture capital firms and strategic investors.Ayar Labs' proprietary approach uses industry-standard, cost-effective silicon processing technology to develop high-speed, high-density, low-power optical-based interconnect chips and lasers to replace traditional electrical-based I/O.The $130 million Series C round will be used to drive its optical I/O The $130 million Series C financing will be used to drive commercialisation of its optical I/O solutions, consolidate its supply chain and increase capacity.
Truespeed
Founded: 2014
Country: UK
Amount: £100 million
Round: Equity funding
Bath, UK-based optical infrastructure provider Truespeed has been delivering critical kilobit broadband infrastructure to underserved areas in the South West of England since 2014. This £100 million investment will help Truespeed accelerate the rollout of its full fibre network to more homes and businesses in urban, semi-rural and ultra-rural areas in the South West of England.
Vayyar
Founded: 2011
Country: Israel
Amount: $108 million
Round: Series E
In June this year, Vayyar Imaging, an Israeli manufacturer of 4D imaging radar sensors, announced a $108 million Series E funding round, valuing it at over $1 billion and placing it among the ranks of unicorns. Specialising in 4D millimetre wave RF imaging technology, it is able to offer an advanced radar-on-chip platform, proprietary software stack and highly advanced machine learning algorithms. Since its inception, Vayyar has raised over $300 million in cumulative funding and the company is considering a foreign IPO in 2-3 years.
Logix Fiber Networks
Founded: 1983
Country: USA
Amount: US$100 million
Round: Equity financing
Logix Fiber Networks, the largest independent fibre optic service provider in Texas, has deployed over 7,000 miles of fibre optic lines across the state of Texas. This round will use much of the new funding to support network build-out and "cost rationalisation" projects, including 5G wireless backhaul services, data centre support and roll-out of its own fibre network services. The company's focus on providing services to wireless carriers stems from Logix's acquisition of Alpheus Communications in 2018.
Covis Optical
Founded: 2011
Country: China
Amount: RMB 400 million
Round: Series C
In May 2022, Covision Optics, a high-end optical equipment and machine vision light source manufacturer, completed a Series C funding round of nearly RMB 400 million. Founded in June 2011, founder Dr. Wang Hua graduated from the Institute of Optomechanical Integration of South China University of Technology, focusing on micron and nano-level ultra-precision positioning platform systems, and his mentor is Professor Zhang Xianmin, an expert in the field of precision equipment. This round of funding will be mainly used for the production of solder-proof DI digital lithography, semiconductor DI digital lithography, photovoltaic cell lithography system scale up and investment in research and development and market development, etc.
Bridger Photonics
Founded: 2006
Country: USA
Amount: US$55 million
Round: Series A
In September 2022, Bridger Photonics, a US-based laser methane monitoring technology company, announced that it had successfully raised US$55 million from local investors. briger Photonics, based in Bozeman, Montana, USA, develops airborne lidar sensors for methane gas mapping and this round of funding will be used to expand the production of these sensors manufacturing.
Chicom Photonics
Founded: 2014
Country: China
Amount: RMB 350 million
Round: Pre-IPO
In August 2022, Qixin Optoelectronics completed a RMB 350 million Pre-IPO round of financing. The investor is Chongqing South Fund, managed by Shenzhen Investment Control Donghai Investment Management Company Limited, a subsidiary of Shenzhen Investment Control. Founded in 2014, Qixin Optoelectronics is a pioneer in the field of dense photonic integration, specialising in the research, development and manufacture of photonic integration chips, devices, modules and subsystems. Relying on the capabilities of its R&D team, Chicom Optoelectronics continues to innovate in its quest to provide next-generation photonics solutions for the data centre, FTTH to the home, CATV and 5G wireless markets.
