PhotonPath, a deeptech startup spin-off of the Politecnico di Milano, active in the field of integrated photonics, announces that it has closed a series A financing round worth a total of 5.1 million euros. This is a fundamental step in the company’s consolidation and expansion path, aimed at enhancing the industrialisation of its proprietary silicon photonic chipsets and plug-and-play modules, as well as intensifying its penetration of international reference markets, with particular focus on the optical communications, infrastructure sensing and aerospace sectors.
The second closing of the round, launched in 2024, sees the participation of institutional and industrial investors, with Join Capital as lead investor, flanked by Deep Ocean Capital, through its Deep Blue Ventures (DBV) and Deep Blue Ventures Space (DBVS) funds, and Levante Capital, already active in the first tranche. These joined the equity team comprising RoboIT, the Tech Transfer Hub of CDP Venture Capital’s Tech Transfer fund, as well as 360 Capital and Brembo Ventures, thus consolidating a corporate structure characterised by financial, industrial and strategic expertise.
The acquired capital will be dedicated to strengthening production capacity and increasing internal calibration and quality control activities, which are essential to support the commercial and technological expansion planned for the next two years. At the same time, PhotonPath aims to strengthen its sales team and accelerate the development of its product roadmap, expanding its current portfolio with innovative solutions for optical networks, industrial monitoring and smart infrastructures, as well as important new aerospace applications. This strategy intends to consolidate its leadership on the European and international scene, guaranteeing excellent technological answers to the growing demands of digitisation and sustainability.
According to the latest market analysis,” reports a note, “the optical networking and photonic sensor sectors are set to experience significant growth, reaching USD 26.5 billion and USD 24 billion respectively by 2025. The driving trends are the expansion of data centres, the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies and the growing demand for high-precision monitoring systems. PhotonPath stands as an innovative player in this context, offering scalable and sustainable technology platforms in line with the most advanced requirements of Industry 4.0.
“This funding milestone represents a strategic turning point for PhotonPath,” says Douglas Aguiar, CEO and co-founder (pictured with the team), “We now have the resources and partners we need to scale our high-performance photonics solutions, expand internationally, and serve critical industries with the precision and flexibility they require.
The company has developed integrated photonic chipsets and proprietary plug-and-play modules that push the limits of conventional electronics technologies, offering compact, energy-efficient solutions for real-time optical acquisition, transmission and sensing. Products include nanoOCM, the world’s smallest high-resolution optical spectrum analyser, which combines patented silicon-based photonic circuitry with sophisticated control algorithms. It provides FlexGrid support, ultra-fast scan times and power consumption of less than one watt, key features for next-generation optical modules and software-defined networks. The Spectre platform, on the other hand, is a fibre-optic sensing system based on integrated photonics, capable of detecting temperatures and stresses in extreme environmental conditions, and intended for critical industries such as energy, transport, aerospace and automation, thanks to a modular, plug-and-play design that enables rapid deployment.
‘PhotonPath is tackling one of the most critical challenges of the digital age, overcoming the limitations of traditional electronics to enable faster and more energy-efficient data acquisition and sensing,’ says Jan Borgstädt, partner at Join Capital. ‘Their mission to transform the way optical communication and infrastructure monitoring is delivered meets urgent market needs and has the potential to revolutionise several industries.
“With the final approval of the new Space Law by the Senate, Italy is taking a fundamental step towards the construction of an ecosystem that can become more structured, in terms of an industrial supply chain, properly regulated and thus ready to contribute to the European scene of technological innovation in the sector, which is growing ever more rapidly. This opens up a new phase not to be missed for our country, and for all stakeholders in the sector, which creates the conditions for enhancing realities of excellence such as PhotonPath and accompanying them on paths of growth and internationalisation. As Deep Ocean Capital, we are proud to contribute to this evolution and to support, through the investment of our first two funds DBV and DBVS, one of the most promising Italian start-ups in the field of deeptech and integrated photonics. PhotonPath represents a concrete example of how research, industrial vision and entrepreneurial capacity can generate high-impact frontier technologies in Europe, starting from Italy and with proven global relevance,’ says Emilia Garito, founder and president of Deep Ocean Capital.
For Deep Blue Ventures, PhotonPath represents one of the eight investments completed in its first year and a half of activity, while for Deep Blue Ventures Space – a fund dedicated to aerospace – it is the first co-investment with DBV. Deep Blue Ventures, a fund set up to support spin-offs and, more generally, innovation initiatives in the healthcare, aerospace and sustainability sectors with a particular focus on artificial intelligence, cyber technology, photonics and quantum computing, plans to close four more deals by the end of 2025 in the various sectors of activity and, among these, to pursue initiatives in the aerospace sector alone in co-investment with the dedicated parallel fund Deep Blue Ventures Space. Deep Blue Ventures’ investors include the European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the EIB Group, and CDP Venture Capital SGR through its Technology Transfer fund as corner investor, while Deep Blue Ventures Space’s sole investor is CDP Venture Capital SGR also through its Technology Transfer fund. Partners include Leonardo, ESA (European Space Agency), I3P (the incubator of innovative enterprises of the Politecnico di Torino), CNR, GDMH (Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli) and the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT).
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