• Brilliance

  Participated · Equity · Apr 2026

  Brilliance is a photonics startup founded in 2023 by Tim Tiek (CEO) and Douwe Geuzebroek (CTO) and is based in Enschede. It develops miniature RGB laser chips built on a patented silicon nitride photonic integrated circuit (PIC) platform with integrated laser technology for use in AR projectors and related display architectures. The company claims its chips reduce power consumption by a factor of ten, increase brightness for outdoor use, and enable smaller, more energy-efficient light engines that can fit into eyewear and automotive HUDs. Brilliance says its manufacturing approach leverages established high-volume chip processes to replace complex optical assemblies. The firm plans to scale up, design custom solutions for customers, and prepare for a first production launch by the end of this year. Financially, it has raised €2 million in seed funding in 2023 and an additional €6 million in the current round led by Cottonwood Technology Fund.

• vitrealab

  Participated · Series A · Jan 2026

  Vitrealab is a Vienna-based spin-off from the Quantum Group at the University of Vienna that is building and manufacturing display components for AR glasses. Its core product, the Quantum Light Chip (QLC), is a photonic integrated circuit that houses hundreds of low-loss optical waveguides paired with nano-imprinted micro-optics and multiple RGB laser diodes to generate uniform, collimated light. This micro-scale light engine is intended to dramatically improve brightness and efficiency in AR displays. With its proprietary chip architecture, the company targets partnerships with AR headset manufacturers and other optical component suppliers. The firm plans to use newly raised funds to accelerate QLC development, broaden market reach, and deepen collaborations with industry partners. Founded in 2018 by Chiara Greganti, Jonas Zeuner, and Nobel laureate Anton Zeilinger, Vitrealab is currently led by CEO Ronny Timmreck. Financial details beyond the latest capital injection were not disclosed in the article.

• NcodiN

  Participated · Seed · Nov 2025

  Founded in 2023, NcodiN is a Paris-based deep-tech startup building NConnect, a photonic interposer platform that embeds record-small, energy-efficient nanolasers directly onto silicon chips. The technology replaces traditional copper links, delivering sub-0.1 pJ/bit optical connections that unlock the high memory bandwidth and scalability required for AI superchips. Over the past 18 months the company has demonstrated full optical links, integrated nanodetectors, and established its own cleanroom to accelerate joint prototyping with partners. With its seed financing, NcodiN plans to move from R&D to industrial scale by running a CMOS pilot line on 300 mm wafers, building out its supply chain, and expanding key engineering hires. The company will also open a Silicon Valley office to deepen customer relationships and prepare for large-scale manufacturing partnerships. NcodiN positions itself as the optical backbone of “more-than-Moore” computing, aiming to enable wafer-scale supercomputers within a single processor package.

• QuiX

  Participated · Series A · Jul 2025

  QuiX Quantum develops universal photonic quantum computers built on silicon-nitride chips designed for high-volume manufacturing. Its systems operate primarily at room temperature, are compatible with data-center environments, and emphasize scalability and energy efficiency. The company has delivered world‑record quantum processors and in 2022 sold 8‑qubit and 64‑qubit photonic systems to the German Aerospace Center (DLR QCI). In 2023 it began offering cloud access to its quantum systems, enabling hybrid computing and near‑term application testing across infrastructure, defense, healthcare, and IT. QuiX’s technology leverages single photons, superposition, entanglement, and interference to target applications such as catalyst simulations, molecular dynamics, machine learning, and data analysis. The company plans to deliver its first universal single‑photon-based quantum computer in 2026 and focus on error correction in a next‑generation system planned for 2027. QuiX Quantum, founded in January 2019 in Enschede, the Netherlands, develops integrated photonic quantum processors and photonic integrated circuits for quantum computing. The company focuses on scalable, plug-and-play integrated photonic solutions and says it has record-breaking 12- and 20-qumode processors with low optical losses. Many components of its photonic systems can operate at room temperature, which the company highlights as a way to reduce cost and size. QuiX plans to introduce a whole-system photonic quantum computer based on its 20-qumode processors and a next-generation 50-qumode processor in early 2023. The company reports it has shipped multiple systems throughout Europe and that its processors are the de facto standard in the UK, France, Germany and Hungary. QuiX announced a €5.5M Seed round and the appointment of Dr Stefan Hengesbach as CEO; the funding will be used to start production of a 50-qumode processor.

• Astrape Networks

  Led · Seed · Apr 2025

  Astrape Networks is a Dutch deep‑tech company developing photonic network switches (the EFFINITI line) that minimise electrical‑to‑optical conversions by converting data to optical signals at the network edge. Its technology uses Photonic Integrated Circuits, multi‑wavelength channels and rapid circuit switching to reduce latency, eliminate congestion and improve GPU/xPU utilisation. Astrape says EFFINITI can deliver up to 20% energy savings today and potentially 60% as network speeds increase, handle ~50% more traffic, double utilisation rates, expand hop capacity and scale to support over 16 million GPUs/xPUs. The company was spun out of Eindhoven University of Technology in 2022, incubated by HighTechXL and is based at the Brainport Eindhoven High Tech Campus in the Netherlands. Astrape targets multi‑tenant data centres and hyperscalers and positions itself as a networking competitor to incumbents like Cisco and Arista. The business intends to complete product development and validation, run early pilot deployments with lead customers, and prepare for scaled manufacturing and broader market readiness by the end of 2027.

No current team members are available.