Photon Bridge raises €10m for lasers that link AI chips
What's the deal? Dutch startup Photon BridgeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised a €10 million seed round to build laser technology that connects AI chips in data centres. The company says its approach can be manufactured at scale to meet demand from fast-growing AI infrastructure.
What's the endgame? Photon Bridge makes optical engines that combine III-V laser materials with silicon photonics. Its pitch is to supply multi-wavelength laser sources for the optical links that move data between chips, easing the bandwidth and power limits of AI data centres.
Why now? The round follows a €4.75 million seed in January 2025, which backed commercialisation of its cantilever waveguide coupling technology. Since then the company has reported wafer-scale validation and a 2025 customer partnership.
By the numbers: At €10 million, this ranks among the largest seed rounds for an AI startup in the Netherlands — in the 99th percentile of 557 comparable deals on record.
What could go wrong? Technical milestones are not the same as a business. The key test is whether Photon Bridge can turn its progress into reliable volume production.
The signal: Investors are betting that optical links can relieve the bandwidth and power constraints squeezing AI data centres. Bigger cheques have gone to US players — Ayar Labs raised $500 million in March 2026 — but the round marks a substantial follow-on for a European specialist in a fast-growing market.
Read more: Sifted
Image credit: IBM Research
