KPN Ventures today announces its participation in the €35M investment round of SMART Photonics, a Dutch company that produces photonic chips. The round was led by Innovation Industries with participation of two regional investment funds as co-investors, of which one manages the capital contribution of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate in SMART Photonics.
The company was founded in 2012, is located on the High Tech Campus Eindhoven, and has the ambition to be the leading independent foundry for photonic integrated circuits, which provide small-scale integration and high performance combined with low energy consumption. Photonic integrated circuits will play a key role in our lives by enabling new and radically improved applications that make our world better, greener and safer.
SMART Photonics has already acquired a global customer base, consisting of leading US, European and Asian customers as well as a range of scale-up companies that develop applications using integrated photonics. SMART Photonics’ technology enables its customers to develop chips for a new generation of communication and high-precision sensor applications in telecom, healthcare, transportation, and industrial processes.
Hans Söhngen, Director KPN Ventures explains the strategic value of the investment for KPN: “In order to keep up with the immense amount of data generated at a very high speed by advancing technologies like IoT, AI, augmented reality and autonomous driving, there is a need for a new generation of photonic integrated circuits that can transport data faster, cost-effective and more sustainable (less energy consumption). Therefore, we see a unique, strategic opportunity for KPN to be closely connected to the development of photonic integration technology with SMART Photonics to continue to serve our customers in an optimal way.”
For more information, see the SMART Photonics press release.
KPN Ventures is the investment arm of KPN. KPN Ventures focuses on direct and indirect (fund-in-fund) investments in innovative and fast-growing European technology companies in the following segments: Internet of Things, Smart Home, Digital Healthcare, Cyber Security, Video / OTT Services, Cloud Computing, Data / AI and Network technology. KPN Ventures has a stake in, among others: Viloc (BE), Sentiance (BE), Zecops (US), Cloudify (ISR), EclecticIQ (NL), Cybersprint (NL), Wirepas (FI) and Actility (FR).
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