OpenLight, a leader in custom photonic chip design, has closed a $34 million Series A funding round, marking a significant milestone in its evolution from a Synopsys subsidiary to an independent, venture-backed company. The funding round, which drew substantial interest and was oversubscribed, is co-led by Xora Innovation and Capricorn Investment Group. Notable participants include Mayfield, Juniper Networks (now part of HPE), Lam Capital, New Legacy Ventures, and K2 Access.
This influx of capital positions OpenLight at the forefront of the rapidly growing market for photonic Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (PASICs), which are essential for next-generation data center networks, particularly those powering artificial intelligence. As data demands surge, the industry is shifting from traditional electrical interconnects to optical solutions that offer greater speed and efficiency. OpenLight’s technology is also being adapted for use in telecom, automotive, industrial sensing, healthcare, and quantum computing.
A cornerstone of their offering is the Process Design Kit (PDK), which leverages heterogeneous integration of indium phosphide and silicon photonics, enabling seamless access to integrated lasers, modulators, amplifiers, and detectors.
Validated at Tower Semiconductor’s foundry, this PDK allows customers to design and manufacture custom PASICs quickly, accelerating product development and market entry. With more than 360 patents and over 20 companies already utilizing its technology, OpenLight is poised for significant impact.
The funding will be used to expand OpenLight’s library of photonic components, enhance high-speed modulator and laser technologies, and launch advanced reference designs for the industry. Additionally, the company plans to expand its team to support customers as they transition to volume production. This strategic investment reinforces OpenLight’s leadership in photonic innovation for tomorrow’s data-driven world.
KEY QUOTES:
“As we enter this next phase of our company’s growth, we are excited to be adding such strong investors with deep roots and expertise in the semiconductor and photonics industry. With this strong syndicate of investors, we can push the boundaries of innovation and deliver transformative solutions to our customers. This funding will allow us to scale our operations, deepen our R&D efforts and bring our groundbreaking products to market faster. We believe heterogeneous integrated silicon photonics will transform the way data is processed and transmitted, and we’re excited to be at the forefront of this revolution.”
Dr. Adam Carter, CEO of OpenLight
“Xora has conviction that the field of photonics is going to see exponential growth in the coming years, and III-V heterogeneous integration is one of the foundational capabilities that will enable this growth. We see OpenLight not only as a technology leader in this field, but also as a company positioned to quickly scale manufacturing with foundry partners. One of the critical challenges for the photonics industry in the back half of this decade will be achieving scale, and we see OpenLight’s PDK as an important part of the solution.”
Phil Inagaki, Managing Partner & Chief Investment Officer, Xora
“Optical connectivity in data centers has become critical for next-generation scale-up and scale-out AI architectures. OpenLight’s heterogeneous integration delivers on all three axes of performance, reliability and cost, which will enable the explosive growth of optical IO. With the industry’s leading team, open PDKs, strong foundry and customer relationships, OpenLight is best positioned to meet the scale of demand that is needed for next-generation AI hardware.”
Dipender Saluja, Managing Partner at Capricorn’s Technology Impact Funds
