AEPONYX has announced the closing of $7.9 million Series A round of financing led by Pangaea Ventures with pariticipation of Fonds InnovExport and Ecofuel Fund, and private investors.
In connection with the financing, Purnesh Seegopaul, General Partner of Pangaea Ventures, has joined AEPONYX’s board of directors.
AEPONYX intends to use new funding to ramp up commercial production of its revolutionary planar micro optical switch chips based on a unique proprietary platform combining silicon photonics with Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS).
Fonds InnovExport and Ecofuel Fund previously led a $4.3 million seed round in December 2017.
AEPONYX has now raised $18 million in equity funding, non-dilutive government financing from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), and in-kind contributions of California-based incubator Silicon Catalyst.
Led by Chairman François Tessier and President Philippe Babin, Montreal based AEPONYX is a fabless micro optical switch semiconductor chips designer and manufacturer. AEPONYX chips are targeted at fiber optic access to the Cloud and optical switching in the Cloud.
photo credit: AEPONYX
News Release
AEPONYX closes CAD 7.9 million financing round
Montreal, Canada – March 14th, 2019– AEPONYX, the world’s emerging leader in micro optical switches, today announced the closing of its Series A financing of CAD 7.9 million.
Led by Pangaea Ventures, the world leader in advanced materials venture capital, the CAD 7.9 million financing includes current investors Fonds InnovExportand Ecofuel Fund, as well as private investors. This funding enables AEPONYX to ramp up commercial production of its revolutionary planar micro optical switch chips based on a unique proprietary platform combining silicon photonics with Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS).
The funding, aggregated to previous investments, in-kind contributions of California-based incubator Silicon Catalyst and to non-dilutive government financing, now reaches CAD 18 million.
“With the support of round leader Pangaea and previous investors, we can now accelerate the commercialization of technology driving energy efficient innovation and positive environmental impact”, says Philippe Babin, CEO of AEPONYX. “This funding, combined with the deep expertise of our partners, pave the way for us to redefine switching technology for next-generation fibre optic telecommunications access networks, datacenters, and 5G mobile networks which, combined, represent a multibillion-dollar opportunity.”
“The world’s large-scale telecommunications networks need to substantially increase their capacity, while at the same time, reducing energy consumption and cost”, said Purnesh Seegopaul, General Partner of Pangaea Ventures. “We expect that AEPONYX’s MEMS and silicon photonics-based micro optical switches to revolutionize fiber optic communications and to accelerate the transition to the new, faster and more efficient global NG-PON2 standard.”
About AEPONYX Inc.
AEPONYX is a micro optical switch leader designing and marketing chips for fiber optic access to the cloud. With its patented technologies, combining planar Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) and Silicon Photonics, AEPONYX builds the fastest, most affordable and smallest micro optical switches for tunable transceivers and optical circuit switches. AEPONYX is an alumnus of Silicon Catalyst, the world’s first incubator focused exclusively on semiconductors based in California. For more information, visit: www.aeponyx.com.
About Pangaea Ventures, Ltd.
Pangaea Ventures is the world leader in advanced materials venture capital. Established in 2001, Pangaea has an outstanding portfolio addressing multi-billion-dollar markets in energy, electronics, health, and sustainability. Pangaea’s funds include twenty-four world-leading multinationals as strategic limited partners, including Asahi Glass, Asahi Kasei, BASF, Bekaert, Castrol/BP, CoorsTek, Doosan, Evonik, Henkel, JSR Corporation, Lam Research, Mitsubishi Chemical, Murata, Nitto Denko, PTT Global Chemical, SABIC, Samsung, Sekisui Chemical, Severstal, Solvay, TOSOH, Toyota Tsusho, and Umicore. For more information visit www.pangaeaventures.com.
Media Contact:
Philippe Babin, CEO, AEPONYX
Philippe.Babin@aeponyx.com
P: +1 (514) 360-7746