Energy use and heat output are climbing, leaving the tech industry searching for new approaches. Leeds-based Optalysys believes it has found one in photonic computing, using light to process data.
Today, the company has closed a £23 million Series A extension round, led by Northern Gritstone and supported by imec.xpand, Lingotto Horizon, and the UK government’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF).
Bringing photonic computing into the mainstream
Optalysys was founded in 2013 by Dr Nick New and Robert Todd to meet the demands of modern AI and cryptography.
Optalysys’ platform combines silicon photonics and digital electronics to move and process data on the same chip. The company’s technology is built to handle heavy workloads, including generative AI, post-quantum cryptography, and fully homomorphic encryption (FHE).
Optalysys already put this idea into practice with LightLocker™ Node, launched last year, which it calls the world’s first dedicated hardware system for encrypted blockchain applications.
What sets Optalysys apart from competitors like Lightmatter, Celestial AI, and Optical Computing Inc. is its focus on secure, photonic-based computation designed for large cloud and enterprise deployments.
What’s next?
The new funding will help accelerate the rollout of Optalysys’ photonic chips and kick-start its entry into the US market, where demand for high-performance, energy-efficient computing is booming.
TFN contacted Optalysys for comment regarding diversity and inclusion; no response was received at the time of publication.
