Kaiam Corporation designs and manufactures high-speed transceivers and photonic integrated circuit products for data centers. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Newark, California, the company became vertically integrated after acquiring PLC supplier Gemfire in 2013 and operates large-scale manufacturing in Livingston, Scotland. It has been ramping production of both PLC and active assemblies at the Livingston facility. Kaiam closed a new equity round of approximately $35 million, nearly doubling the total equity investment raised since inception. The funding will finance further expansion of the Livingston facility and accelerate new product development. Management said the round, led by industry strategic investors, validates that Kaiam’s products address customer needs. The announcement cites market projections that 40G transceiver demand could grow from over $500 million today to $2.5 billion over the next five years. Kaiam develops photonic integrated circuit (PIC) products built on a MEMS-based optical integration platform for datacom and telecom applications. The company is working with multiple partners to deliver PIC-based products across high-capacity transport and lower-cost FTTH use cases. Kaiam was founded by technologists from the optical networking industry and is positioned as a platform technology provider. The company intends to use new funding to build out infrastructure, expedite transfer of initial products to volume manufacturing, and complete product qualifications. Management says the funding will help meet customers' production needs as commercial contracts demonstrate demand. The business remains privately funded and focused on bringing its initial product set to market at scale.

Total raised

$40M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Sep 2014