PINC Technologies raises $6.8 million for scalable nonlinear photonics
The Caltech spinout says its NanoPPLN platform, based on periodically poled lithium niobate, offers a scalable solution for high-performance nonlinear optics in PICs, enabling breakthroughs in applications including, sensing, communications, and quantum
PINC Technologies, a spinout from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) with a focus on developing advanced integrated nonlinear photonic devices and circuits, has emerged from stealth and announced the close of its Seed+ round, bringing total funds raised to $6.8 million. The company plans to use the new investment to accelerate commercialisation of its technology, which builds on research from the Caltech Nonlinear Photonics Laboratory. The latest round was led by Quantonation, and PINC Technologies has raised funding from investors, including Wilson Hill Ventures, Freeflow Ventures, Hamamatsu Ventures, Qubits Ventures, Santec, and the Caltech Seed Fund.
While photonics is a critical enabler of faster, more efficient computing and communications, it has so far been limited by the lack of scalable nonlinear solutions. As demand surges across areas including medical diagnostics, quantum technologies, and next-generation data networks, there is a growing need for breakthroughs to unlock the full power of light-based systems.
Addressing this need, PINC Technologies says it is pioneering a platform that makes nonlinear photonics scalable and practical for real-world applications, including quantum information processing, advanced communications, and industrial photonics systems.
“Our vision at PINC is to bring nonlinear photonics out of the lab and into industry,” said Farzaneh Afshinmanesh, CEO and co-founder of PINC Technologies. “This funding allows us to scale our engineering team, accelerate product development, and build collaborations to enable new capabilities in industrial photonics applications, quantum computing, biomedical sensing, and beyond.”
Christophe Jurczack, managing partner at Quantonation, commented: “Quantonation is excited to lead this round for PINC Technologies. The company’s integrated nonlinear photonic platform represents a critical enabling technology for the quantum era. We believe PINC has the potential to become a cornerstone in the photonics and quantum ecosystem.”
