Key facts
- Morphotonics raised €40 million to scale its nanoimprint lithography technology.
- The company plans to use the funds to expand into optical components for data centers.
- The funding round was backed by 3M Ventures, Innovation Industries, BOM, Invest-NL, EIC Fund, Ernij Next, and EIB.
- Morphotonics' technology is used to create displays for AR glasses and privacy screens.
- The company's headcount has grown to 60 employees from approximately 30 in September 2024.
- Morphotonics expects its next machine, capable of producing over 6 million waveguides annually, to ship early next year.
Morphotonics, a Dutch company specializing in nanoimprint lithography (NIL) for displays, announced on Tuesday that it has raised €40 million. The funding will be used to scale up production of its technology, primarily used for augmented reality glasses and other optics, and to push into the data center market with optical components. The company benefits from ASML's supply chain, utilizing many of the same vendors.
The funding round, which began in 2024 and was completed in multiple installments, was supported by investors including 3M Ventures, Innovation Industries, BOM, Invest-NL, the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund, Dutch family office Ernij Next, and the European Investment Bank (EIB).
Morphotonics' NIL process involves creating a "stamp" to apply patterns onto photosensitive materials, enabling the creation of displays for applications like smart glasses, privacy screens, and waveguide technology. The demand for smart glasses is surging, with China reporting a doubling of sales in the first eight months of the year and market research firm IDC projecting shipments of 12.2 million by 2030.
Since September 2024, when CEO Hugo Da Silva joined, Morphotonics has more than doubled its headcount to 60 employees and plans to reach 70 to 75. Da Silva stated that display manufacturers typically acquire Morphotonics' equipment and are trained on the manufacturing process. The company's manufacturing operations are concentrated in Asia, with teams in China, Taiwan, South Korea, and the U.S.
The company's next machine, expected to ship early next year, will be capable of producing over 6 million waveguides annually. Beyond displays, Morphotonics is targeting co-packaged optics for data centers, a technology that uses Photonic Integrated Circuits to move data with light instead of electricity. While no machines have shipped in this area yet, customers have validated the technology. Currently, about 90% of Morphotonics' revenue comes from hardware sales, with 10 to 15 systems deployed globally. The company anticipates reaching 50 deployments in the next two to three years, which is expected to increase service revenue.