DCU spin-out firm gets €1.8m from Bank of Ireland venture fund

Bank of Ireland’s venture capital arm has invested €1.8m in Dublin City University’s Pilot Photonics spin-out.

ernel Capital confirmed its investment on Thursday in the tech start-up, which has patented a technique that can create multiple lasers from one device.

Photonics is the science of light and is used in manufacturing, medical devices, telecoms, security and also to scan groceries in supermarkets.

Kernel Capital partner Denise Sidhu said it was an essential technology with growth potential.

“The world we know today would not exist without photonics and the influence of the technology will grow even further as it converges with advances in Artificial Intelligence, delivering new applications across a broad spectrum of markets including telecoms, healthcare and autonomous vehicles.”

Pilot Photonics’ novel ‘comb laser’ technology uses a patented ‘gain switching’ technique that allows it to generate and manipulate waves of light, effectively creating multiple lasers from one device.

Pilot Photonics devices, combined with high-powered computer processing, can be mass produced, the company said, for use in the telecoms, automotive, aerospace and energy sectors.

The technology was developed over more than a decade of research and development (R&D) at DCU, Trinity College Dublin and the Tyndall National Institute in Cork.

“Ireland was early to recognise the importance of photonics and has invested heavily in photonics R&D for more than 25 years,” said Enterprise Ireland chief executive Leo Clancy.

“Pilot Photonics is leveraging that state investment in early-stage R&D to create advanced technology products with global potential.”

Pilot Photonics is led by chief executive William Oppermann, who founded data storage start-up and fellow Kernel Capital investee company MPSTOR. It was successfully sold to Sanmina Inc. in 2016.