Lightmatter illuminates $80m series B

Lightmatter, a US-based photonic computing technology developer spun out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has received $80m in a series B round led by Viking Global Investors.
Technology conglomerate Alphabet’s GV unit, enterprise technology producer Hewlett Packard Enterprise and aerospace and defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin also took part, as did Matrix Partners, SIP Global Partners, Spark Capital and unnamed additional investors.
Founded in 2017, Lightmatter has developed a new type of high-performance computer processing chip which uses photons instead of electrons. Its chips are designed for use in artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
The spinout’s products include Passage, a wafer-scale photonic interconnect which enables computer chips to communicate at high speeds, and Envise, a general-purpose photonic AI accelerator. It is also working on what it claims is the world’s first photonic computer: Mars.
Nick Harris, co-founder and chief executive of Lightmatter, said: “Funds will be used to accelerate production and go-to-market of our first-generation roadmap products and build out our sales and operations teams.”
Olivia Nottebohm, former chief operating officer of data storage platform developer Dropbox, has been appointed to the company’s board of directors.
Lightmatter has now raised $113m altogether. GV led a $22m funding extension to its series A round in 2019 that included Matrix Partners and Spark Capital, the last two having co-led the $11m first tranche of the round the previous year.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.