Optalysys raises £23M to support photonic computing development
Leeds-based Optalysys, a photonic computing company, secured £23 million in a Series A extension round to advance its innovative technology. This funding round, led by Northern Gritstone and supported by imec.xpand, Lingotto Horizon, and the UK government, signals growing confidence in European tech innovation. The investment will support the commercialization of its proprietary photonic chips and further development of its programmable computing technology for AI, cloud, and security applications. Optalysys is developing a novel photonic computing approach, integrating data movement and processing on a single chip. This method combines silicon photonics with digital technologies to enhance computational capacity and improve energy efficiency. The company’s technology supports compute-intensive workloads such as generative AI and post-quantum algorithms, and a key application is fully homomorphic encryption. This technology is particularly relevant for secure cloud and enterprise environments. The LightLocker™ Node servers, which support encrypted blockchain applications, feature early implementations of this technology. With this funding, Optalysys plans to expand into the US, establishing a presence within the country’s photonics and semiconductor ecosystem to support wider market adoption and potentially boost European digital sovereignty in the long run.
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