MONTREAL, March 14, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ – 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 InnovExport and 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.
For further information: Media Contact: Philippe Babin, CEO, AEPONYX, Philippe.Babin@aeponyx.com, P: +1 (514) 360-7746
