News: Optoelectronics
21 June 2022
Scintil raises €13.5m in second-round financing led by Robert Bosch
Scintil Photonics of Grenoble, France and Toronto, Canada, a fabless developer of silicon photonic integrated circuits (integrated laser arrays, 800Gb/s transmitters and receivers, tunable transmitters and receivers, as well as optical I/O for near chip and chip-chip communication), has secured €13.5m ($14.4m) in a second round of funding, led by Robert Bosch Venture Capital (RBVC) and joined by reinvestment from historic shareholders Supernova Invest, Innovacom and Bpifrance (through its Digital Venture fund). Total funding to date is now €17.5m ($18.8m) following the €4m ($4.4m) first round in September 2019.
Scintil’s optical communications aim to significantly enhance traditional high-speed system and chip interconnections. The firm’s Augmented Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuit (IC) product is a single-chip solution consisting of active and passive components, all made entirely from standard silicon photonics processes available at CMOS commercial foundries, and where III-V optical amplifiers and lasers are integrated on the backside of silicon photonic circuits. This unique all-in-one integration of amplifiers and lasers enables ultra-high-speed communications, due to extensive parallelization and higher bit rates, e.g. from 800Gb/s to 3,200Gb/s with very compact chips.
Scintil will use the new funds to take its industrialization program to the next level and speed up the global commercialization of products that boost communications in data centers, high-performance computing (HPC) and 5G networks. Scintil’s products are said to be unique in providing optical communication applications with higher bit rates and scalable, cost-effective and mass-producible photonic integrated circuit (PIC) solutions. This can enable the multi-billion-dollar electronics industry to overcome the end of Moore’s Law with the integration of very high-speed optical communications, the firm adds.
“Scintil Photonics is delighted to welcome Robert Bosch Venture Capital, a leading global investor; this is a great opportunity for us to boost our global footprint,” comments Scintil’s president & CEO Sylvie Menezo. “We are also grateful for the support of our first customers, to whom we have shipped or are currently shipping product prototypes, as well as our trusted suppliers and employees. Together, including the significant contributions in this round from our existing investors, this demonstrates the major progress we have made over the past three years in taking our disruptive photonic circuit technology to the fast-growing market segments of optical interconnects in 5G, cloud HPC and datacom,” she adds.
“Scintil Photonics’ monolithic integration of III-V lasers into silicon photonic chips is a key enabler for next-generation telecom, datacom and sensing,” comments RBVC’s managing director Ingo Ramesohl. “The CMOS-compatible process allows for higher design freedom, lower losses and a smaller footprint at low cost. We are excited to partner with Scintil Photonics as it uniquely unlocks further miniaturization and integration of photonic integrated circuits,” he adds.
“We have supported Scintil since its inception and believe that the company’s capability to integrate lasers in advanced silicon photonics is second to none currently on offer for the industry,” says Marion Aubry, investment director of the Bpifrance Digital Venture team.
“We are delighted to strengthen our continuous support to Scintil Photonics as the company reaches a new dimension,” says Vincent Deltrieu, partner and member of the board at Innovacom. “As a multi-stage deep-tech specialist, we are impressed by its technological success and the team’s ability to transform that into a commercial success. Scintil Photonics products are tackling the energy-efficiency issue in heavy loaded data-center applications and 5G infrastructures,” he adds.
“Our continuous engagement with Scintil Photonics is another example of how Supernova Invest partners with game-changing deep-tech start-ups to deliver to industry highly innovative and fast-to-market solutions, while reducing the cost of mass-produced fully integrated photonic circuits,” says Pierre-Emmanuel Struyven, president & managing partner at Supernova Invest.
Scintil unveils III-V-augmented silicon photonic IC
