Frontier IP Group PLC (AIM:FIPP) portfolio company 2D Photonics CEO Ben Jensen talked with Proactive about the company’s recent €25.00 million funding round and its plans to scale up its advanced graphene-based photonics technology.
Jensen explained the growing demand for faster, more cost-effective data transmission solutions, driven by sectors such as AI and 5G. “What’s required today is ever faster data transmission at lower costs,” he said. According to Jensen, the new device architecture 2D Photonics has developed simplifies photonics design while significantly improving performance. This innovation is crucial for enabling higher bandwidth and lower power consumption across data networks.
The funding will support the expansion of the leadership team and the development of pilot production capabilities. Jensen emphasized the importance of execution at this early stage, noting that the goal is to demonstrate the scalability of the technology for semiconductor foundries and ultimately reach high-volume manufacturing.
He also discussed future applications, pointing to sectors such as space and defence, where rugged environments make traditional photonics challenging. In addition, the technology has relevance for Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS), where rapid data transmission between sensors is critical for vehicle safety.
Proactive: Ben, very good to speak with you. You've just raised €25 million to accelerate developments and scale up your advanced graphene photonics. And you've also attracted an impressive array of investors from industry, government and finance. What's attracting them to your technology?
Ben Jensen: I think a couple of interesting points here. One, the investor pool that we have is really showing the quality of the technology that we're developing and the need in the market for that technology. What's required today is ever faster data transmission at lower costs. We see it every day in the news around AI and 5G communications. Basically, everywhere data is being used, there's a requirement to go faster, but also a requirement from the data providers to reduce the cost.
Our technology is very, very relevant in this area because we've developed a new device architecture in photonics using graphene. With that new device architecture, we've simplified the design so we improve the power performance of transmitting that data whilst increasing the bandwidth, and that's absolutely critical for the future of data communications.
Proactive: Ben, what will the proceeds from the funding round be invested in?
Ben Jensen: Great question. We're a startup company, so we need to build the management team out. Execution of this type of technology is absolutely critical. In the near future, we'll be bringing on senior team members, C-level and also vice president levels for engineering, photonics design, and scaling up the technology. We're just at the starting phase of the process where we have really innovative technology. But the end game is to get it into high-volume production, and there's a journey to be taken between the two.
The first part is building out the senior team, then building out pilot production capability, demonstrating to the world that this is a viable technology that can be scaled into a semiconductor foundry — which is the end objective: high-volume manufacturing of the technology.
Proactive: So Ben, what's next for the company and the technology?
Ben Jensen: Well, it's very, very interesting. Because we've simplified device architecture and increased the performance massively over incumbent technologies, the foundation technology behind this is very rugged and useful in difficult environments that you wouldn't normally see photonics going into. That means we can now address critical applications in space and defence that haven't been addressed before but have a need to move data in the same way.
Also, other applications are very relevant — what we call automated driver assistance systems. With the electrification of vehicles and Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) helping drivers stay on the road and prevent crashes, the technology is very relevant there. You're moving lots of data rapidly from camera systems into computer systems and other sensors to keep cars and drivers safe on the road.
Proactive: Ben, I hope you'll keep us updated on any progress. Thank you very much for the introduction today.