About Us

Laser Focus World is an industry bedrock—first published in 1965 and still going strong. We publish original articles about cutting-edge advances in lasers, optics, photonics, sensors, and quantum technologies, as well as test and measurement, and the shift currently underway to usher in the photonic integrated circuits, optical interconnects, and copackaged electronics and photonics to deliver the speed and efficiency essential for data centers of the future.

Our 80,000 qualified print subscribers—and 130,000 12-month engaged online audience—trust us to dive in and provide original journalism you won’t find elsewhere covering key emerging areas such as laser-driven inertial confinement fusion, lasers in space, integrated photonics, chipscale lasers, LiDAR, metasurfaces, high-energy laser weaponry, photonic crystals, and quantum computing/sensors/communications. We cover the innovations driving these markets.

Laser Focus World is part of Endeavor Business Media, a division of EndeavorB2B.

Laser Focus World Membership

Never miss any articles, videos, podcasts, or webinars by signing up for membership access to Laser Focus World online. You can manage your preferences all in one place—and provide our editorial team with your valued feedback.

Magazine Subscription

Can you subscribe to receive our print issue for free? Yes, you sure can!

Newsletter Subscription

A Laser Focus World newsletter subscription is free to qualified professionals:

The Daily Beam

Showcases the newest content from Laser Focus World, including photonics- and optics-based applications, components, research, and trends. (Daily)

Product Watch

The latest in products within the photonics industry. (9x per year)

Bio & Life Sciences Product Watch

The latest in products within the biophotonics industry. (4x per year)

Laser Processing Product Watch

The latest in products within the laser processing industry. (3x per year)

Get Published!

If you’d like to write an article for us, reach out with a short pitch to Sally Cole Johnson: [email protected]. We love to hear from you.

Photonics Hot List

Laser Focus World produces a video newscast that gives a peek into what’s happening in the world of photonics.

Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast

Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast dives deep into the fascinating world of photonics. Our weekly episodes feature interviews and discussions with industry and research experts, providing valuable perspectives on the issues, technologies, and trends shaping the photonics community.

Social Media

Bluesky • Facebook • Instagram • LinkedIn • YouTube

Meet the Laser Focus World Team

Editorial

Sales

Editorial Advisory Board

  • Professor Andrea M. Armani, University of Southern California
  • Ruti Ben-Shlomi, Ph.D., LightSolver
  • James Butler, Ph.D., Hamamatsu
  • Natalie Fardian-Melamed, Ph.D., Columbia University
  • Justin Sigley, Ph.D., AmeriCOM
  • Professor Birgit Stiller, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, and Leibniz University of Hannover
  • Professor Stephen Sweeney, University of Glasgow
  • Mohan Wang, Ph.D., University of Oxford
  • Professor Xuchen Wang, Harbin Engineering University
  • Professor Stefan Witte, Delft University of Technology
My Watchlist
Indicators
Industrial Laser Index
Markets
Stocks
ETFs
Tools
Markets:
Overview
News
Currencies
International
Treasuries

Lightmatter Raises $80M Series B and Brings Photonic Compute Chip to Market That Accelerates AI With 10x-Plus Speed and Energy Advantage

By: via Business Wire

Round led by Viking Global Investors with participation from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lockheed Martin and SIP Global Partners plus returning investors GV, Matrix Partners, and Spark Capital.

Lightmatter Envise inference system runs largest neural networks developed to-date with unprecedented performance.

Lightmatter, the leader in photonic computing, announced today that it has raised a $80 million Series B investment round, bringing total investment raised so far to $113 million. The round was led by Viking Global Investors with participation from GV (formerly Google Ventures), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Lockheed Martin, Matrix Partners, SIP Global Partners, Spark Capital, and others.

“This investment is a strong endorsement of our approach to delivering higher performance, lower environmental impact AI compute solutions to the global technology community,” said Lightmatter co-founder and CEO, Nick Harris. ”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.”

Recognizing the challenges the chip industry faces, Lightmatter is committed to developing AI compute technologies that accelerate the growth of AI, while also minimizing its environmental impact on the planet. The company has seen rapid growth in the last year, announcing Mars, the world’s first photonic computer, Passage, a new wafer-scale solution to enable computer chips to communicate at unprecedented speeds, and most recently, Envise, the world’s first, general-purpose photonic AI accelerator.

Olivia Nottebohm Appointed to Board

Lightmatter also announced today that Olivia Nottebohm, former chief operating officer of Dropbox, will be joining the Board of Directors. In her role at Dropbox, Nottebohm led sales, business development, partnerships marketing, customer success, support, people and communications. Prior to joining Dropbox, Nottebohm held leadership sales and go-to-market roles at Google, and was a Technology Practice Partner at McKinsey & Company.

“I am delighted to welcome Olivia to our board,” said Harris. “It is a testament to Lightmatter’s potential, and ambitions for future growth and impact, that we have been able to appoint someone of such incredible caliber and experience. I look forward to partnering with her as we accelerate through this next crucial stage of the company.”

Founded in 2017, Lightmatter has pioneered a new paradigm in processor chip architecture that uses photons instead of electrons. Now the leader in the photonic AI compute “space race,” this new class of high performance semiconductors is the foundation of Lightmatter’s mission to enable the growth of computing, reduce harmful emissions associated with this growth, and democratize computing for all.

Investor Quotes

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

“Lightmatter unlocks performance improvements over current offerings while delivering significant power savings,” said Paul Glaser, vice president and head of Hewlett Packard Pathfinder. “HPE shares Lightmatter’s commitment to designing products and solutions to empower our customers to operate sustainably and efficiently; Lightmatter’s technology is a clear differentiator.”

Matrix Partners

“Lightmatter has executed on an unbelievable challenge, with the perfect balance of innovation and determination, taking on just the right risks and overcoming seemingly ‘insurmountable’ obstacles along the way. In doing so, they have developed a disruptive product that we feel sure will transform the ML landscape.”

SIP Global

“As the extraordinary team at Lightmatter develops and deploys its radically transformational technology, it is the vast, global opportunity that excites us the most. With over 50 years of investment and operational experience in Japan, ASEAN and MENA, we look forward to working with the Lightmatter team to expand into the world’s fastest growing tech markets.”

Spark Capital

“Lightmatter has rewritten the rules of processor performance by creating a next-generation computing platform built for artificial intelligence,” said Santo Politi, Founder and General Partner at Spark Capital. “Since first partnering with the team in 2018, they have already delivered a photonic computer that is 10x faster than anything on the market while using less energy. I am confident this is just the beginning of their journey, and I’m delighted to continue to invest in the Lightmatter team, whose breakthroughs will usher us into the future.”

About Lightmatter

Lightmatter is leading the evolution of computing to reduce its impact on our planet, while also enabling the next giant leaps in human progress. By unifying the unique properties of light as an ideal carrier of information, with the interoperability of electronics, Lightmatter creates photonic processors and interconnect that are faster, more efficient, and cooler than anything else on earth.

Contacts

More News

View More
3 Healthcare Stocks Using AI to Drive Growth
Via MarketBeat
Topics Artificial Intelligence
Tickers BSX HIMS TEM
Get Exposure to Millennials' Purchasing Power With This ETF
Via MarketBeat
Topics ETFs
Tickers AAPL DASH DIS GOOGL META MILN
Why a $4.5 Billion Smart Debt Move Is Fueling Dell’s AI Ambitions
Via MarketBeat
Topics Artificial Intelligence
Tickers DELL
Beam Global Gets Buy Rating With 101% Upside Potential
Via MarketBeat
Topics Intellectual Property
Tickers BEEM
These 3 Crypto Stocks Could Get a Bump as Dollar Trust Weakens
Via MarketBeat
Topics ETFs Economy World Trade
Tickers BITF COIN HOOD
Stock Quote API & Stock News API supplied by www.cloudquote.io
Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes.
By accessing this page, you agree to the following
Privacy Policy and Terms Of Service.