INSIGHTS / News

SETsquared Bristol company and Scale-Up programme alumnus, Wave Photonics, has received £4.5m funding to develop a new range of on-chip photonics designs for quantum technologies, sensors and data centre applications.

Since 2021, the Cambridge-based start-up has been working to reimagine the photonics product development cycle. Integrated photonics share the same scalable process as semiconductor electronic chips, however, the journey of taking a photonic integrated circuit from concept to mass production is notoriously long and costly.

To combat this, Wave Photonics’ computational design technology boasts the ability to significantly reduce photonic product development time. This technology is set to transform the process into an integrated and more streamlined solution similar to that of modern-day semiconductors.

The investment round was led by the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund and Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, with additional participation from Redstone and QAI Ventures’ Quantum Fund, as well as Kyra Ventures, Parkwalk’s University of Cambridge Enterprise Fund IX (UCEF IX), and Deep Tech Labs.

The cash injection will allow the company to take its technology from a research manufacturing line to a commercial foundry. Focusing on solutions for applications including quantum technologies and biosensing, the development of this technology has the potential to completely transform the sector.

Wave Photonics has shared a significant history with SETsquared and its partner universities. The company was introduced to SETsquared Bristol through the university’s Quantum Technology Enterprise Centre (QTEC) programme, where founder, James, has shared his insights of running a deep-tech start-up. Wave Photonics also tapped into support from SETsquared’s Scale-Up programme, receiving key introductions to academics at the universities of Bristol and Southampton, as well as tailored bid writing support to help them craft the perfect proposition.

This combination of support has laid the foundations for Wave Photonics to go on and secure this significant funding.

James Lee, CEO, Wave Photonics, said, “The team has spent the past few years building and experimentally validating our design technology – it’s exciting to have the resources to begin deploying it to solve real industry problems.”

Mark White, Investment Director, UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund (UKI2S), added, “We are delighted to be co-leading this seed round for Wave Photonics. When we first met Jamie and his partners, we were very impressed by both the vision and the promise of the very innovative approach taken to design for the next generation of integrated photonics.”

Dr. Christine Martin, Head of Ventures at Cambridge Enterprise said “Cambridge Enterprise Ventures is pleased to follow our initial pre-seed investment and co-lead Wave Photonics’ seed round with UKI2S. Integrated photonics is poised to disrupt high-value industries ranging from quantum computing to bio-sensing, and Wave Photonics’ team and technologies are in a great position to enable and accelerate the adoption of next generation integrated photonics products”.

Chiara Decaroli, Redstone said, “Redstone has been impressed by what the team at Wave Photonics has achieved so far and are thrilled to support their next phase of growth and development. Integrated photonics is an expanding field with strong impact on quantum technologies, as well as diverse applications touching our everyday life. We believe Wave Photonics’ products will play a significant role in shaping photonic integrated circuit design in the future.”