DCU spinout Pilot Photonics has completed a €2.9m funding round to progress its novel ‘comb laser’ technology.
Pilot Photonics was established in 2011 to commercialise over ten years of research and development undertaken at DCU, Trinity College Dublin and Tyndall National Institute.
The venture’s equity and loan note funding amounted to €2m in December 2020, according to filings, when accumulated losses stood at €2.3m
Photonic integration is a technique that combines multiple optical functions on a single photonic chip.
Pilot Photonics is led by CEO William Oppermann and CTO Frank Smyth.
In Association with
Oppermann was founder of Kernel Capital portfolio company MPSTOR which was sold to Sanmina Inc in 2016.
Early backer Kernel Capital has followed on with €2.2m in the latest funding round.
Kernel Capital partner Denise Sidhu commented: "The world we know today would not exist without photonics, and the influence of the technology will grow even further as it converges with advances in Artificial Intelligence, delivering new applications across a broad spectrum of markets including telecoms, healthcare and autonomous vehicles."
Pilot Photonics has been a beneficiary of state funding from the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund, and taxpayers also participated in the latest funding round, with Enterprise Ireland investing €150,000.
"Ireland was early to recognise the importance of photonics and has invested heavily in photonics R&D for more than 25 years," said Leo Clancy, chief executive of the agency.
"Pilot Photonics is leveraging that state investment in early-stage R&D to create advanced technology products with global potential."
The AIB Seed Capital Fund invested €375,000 in the company funding round, which was effected last November. Four individual investors contributed a combined €150,000, according to an allotment document.
Photo (l-r): Frank Smyth, William Oppermann, Leo Clancy and Denise Sidhu.
