AEPONYX, a Montreal, Quebec-based micro optical switch company, announced it raised CAD 7.9 million in Series A funding. This round of funding was led by Pangaea Ventures. Existing investors Fonds InnovExport and Ecofuel Fund along with several private investors also participated.
With this funding round, AEPONYX will be ramping up the commercial production of its planar micro optical switch chips. AEPONYX is essentially a micro optical switch leader that designs and markets chips for fiber optic access to the cloud.
And AEPONYX is known for building some of the fastest, smallest, and most affordable micro optical switches for tunable transceivers and optical circuit switches using its patented technologies that combine planar Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) and Silicon Photonics.
“With the support of round leader Pangaea and previous investors, we can now accelerate the commercialization of technology driving energy efficient innovation and positive environmental impact”, said AEPONYX CEO Philippe Babin. “This funding, combined with the deep expertise of our partners, pave the way for us to redefine switching technology for next-generation fiber optic telecommunications access networks, data centers, and 5G mobile networks which, combined, represent a multibillion-dollar opportunity.”
Including this round of funding, AEPONYX has raised a total of CAD 18 million. The previous funding was provided by in-kind contributions of California-based incubator Silicon Catalyst and non-dilutive government financing.
“The world’s large-scale telecommunications networks need to substantially increase their capacity, while at the same time, reducing energy consumption and cost”, added Pangaea Ventures general partner Purnesh Seegopaul. “We expect that AEPONYX’s MEMS and silicon photonics-based micro optical switches to revolutionize fiber optic communications and to accelerate the transition to the new, faster and more efficient global NG-PON2 standard.”
Pangaea is considered the world leader in advanced materials venture capital. The company’s funds include 24 world-leading multinationals as strategic limited partners including Asahi Glass, Asahi Kasei, BASF, Bekaert, Castrol/BP, CoorsTek, Doosan, Evonik, Henkel, JSR Corporation, Lam Research, Mitsubishi Chemical, Murata, Nitto Denko, PTT Global Chemical, SABIC, Samsung, Sekisui Chemical, Severstal, Solvay, TOSOH, Toyota Tsusho, and Umicore.
