LightSolver lands $1.8M Israeli grant to push laser computing toward market
What's the deal? LightSolver, an Israeli deep-tech firm building an all-optical computing platform, has secured a grant of about $1.8 million from the Israel Innovation AuthorityDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The money will fund development of its Laser Processing Unit (LPU), a laser-based system designed to run alongside CPUs and GPUs.
What's the endgame? The program aims to move the LPU from a validated platform toward commercial systems. It covers a new generation of hardware for solving partial differential equations, expanded tools in the LPU Lab platform, and integration into high-performance computing (HPC) environments.
The LPU uses the physical interaction of lasers to compute, mapping problems onto an optical system where many variables interact at once. LightSolver targets workloads in scientific simulation, engineering, and optimisation, and is advancing toward commercial availability in 2028.
Why now? The grant follows a run of commercial and institutional signals. Boeing is funding work on laser-based engineering simulation, and LightSolver has entered a paid, multi-year framework with Israel's Ministry of Defense, including an initial 12-month order. In September, CollPlant acquired LightSolver and committed $5 million to fund its operations, with more consideration tied to milestones.
The Israel Innovation Authority approved the grant after reviewing the program's technological innovation, feasibility, commercial potential, and expected contribution to the Israeli economy.
"This program is intended to fund the work that takes us from a validated platform toward commercial systems: next-generation PDE hardware, deeper integration with existing HPC environments and progress toward the next phase of manufacturing and supply chain," said Ruti Ben Shlomi, co-founder and chief executive officer of LightSolver.
What could go wrong? The award is a development grant, not a conventional equity round, and it is modest against the cost and uncertainty of bringing new computing hardware to market. It supports progress toward commercialisation rather than proving broad adoption.
The signal: For grant rounds in enterprise software across Israel, $1.8 million lands in the 92nd percentile — large for its category. Paired with customer backing from Boeing and the defence ministry, it points to growing institutional confidence that optical computing could ease the energy and performance limits straining semiconductor-based HPC.
Read more: Business Insider
Image credit: LightSolver
