Scintil Photonics raises $58 million to scale its tech for AI factories…

11 Sep 2025

…and Lithuanian optics startup Astrolight wins €2.8 million seed funding.

Scintil Photonics, a Grenoble, France-based developer of heterogeneous integrated photonics for AI infrastructure, has announced the completion of a $58 million (€50 million) Series B funding round.

The investment is led by Yotta Capital Partners and NGP Capital, with participation from NVIDIA. It also includes new participation from BNP Paribas Développement, alongside existing investors.

Scintil’s statement said the funding will expand hiring in France and internationally, including the U.S., accelerate production, as it delivers a single-chip DWDM light engine, integrating multi-wavelength lasers with silicon photonics, aligned with next-generation co-packaged optics.

“This investment marks a pivotal moment for Scintil as we move to full-scale deployment,” said Matt Crowley, CEO of Scintil Photonics. “Our SHIP™ technology enables integrated photonic solutions with the scalability, energy efficiency, and integration density required to power next-generation compute infrastructure.

“This efficiency not only reduces data center operating costs but also contributes to lowering the carbon footprint of AI infrastructure. With LEAF Light™ entering high-volume production, we are expanding from our base in Grenoble into the international markets, to support the world’s most advanced AI factories.”

Sylvie Menezo, founder and CTO of Scintil, commented, “We developed our LEAF Light™ integrated circuit in close collaboration with our customers. Used as an external laser source for co-packaged optics transmissions, it is a key component for the next generation of AI data centers. Its single-chip solution integrates precisely-spaced DFB lasers on silicon photonic circuits.”

‘Essential platform’

Vincent Deltrieu, Managing Partner at Yotta Capital Partners, said, “Scintil’s integrated photonics platform is essential to scale the next generation of AI factories. We’re excited to support their global growth as they move to high-volume shipments.”

“Integrated photonics is becoming a foundation of all AI infrastructure, and Scintil is turning that future into reality,” said Bo Ilsoe, Managing Partner at NGP Capital. “Their technology delivers the bandwidth density and energy efficiency AI factories require with global scalability.”

Alan Weckel, Co-Founder and Technology Analyst, 650 Group, commented, “As the number of XPUs and AI bandwidth grows, scale-up fabrics will need to transition away from copper to optical-based solutions. AI data centers will move toward co-packaged optics and external DWDM light sources. Scale-up networking is an incremental opportunity for vendors, with the market set to exceed $25 billion by 2029.”

The funding round will enable Scintil to expand hiring in France and internationally, including the U.S., from its strategic base in Grenoble, a leading hub for photonics and semiconductor innovation. Scintil benefits from its proximity to institutions such as CEA-Leti and other global semiconductor companies in the area.

Lithuanian startup Astrolight wins €2.8 million funding

Astrolight, a Lithuanian space communications company, has closed a seed round at €2.8 million led by frontier tech investor Balnord, with participation from EIFO, Coinvest Capital, 3NGLS, and Rita Sakus.

The company says that this investment will enable the start-up to accelerate the development of its laser-based end-to-end communication platform that securely connects satellites to Earth. Astrolight aims to build sovereign European capabilities in critical infrastructure.

“Our long-term vision is to create the optical backbone network for space,” said Laurynas Mačiulis, CEO and co-founder of Astrolight. “The amount of satellites and constellations is growing exponentially, but there’s still no scalable, secure way to consistently bring that data back to Earth. With laser communication, we’re closing that gap.”

According to Goldman Sachs Research, more than 70,000 low Earth orbit satellites are expected to launch in the next five years. Along with these constellations, the demand for space-to-ground connectivity is increasing. Lasercom is becoming a competitive option to RF, providing more robust links and up to 100 times faster data rates.

Jarek Pilarczyk, Operating Partner at Balnord, commented, “We believe that Astrologht's team has developed a truly groundbreaking optical communication technology that is essential to solving the rapidly approaching data bottleneck in space. Their high-speed, jam-resistant solutions are not only critical for the growing satellite market but also represent the kind of frontier innovation that will define the next generation of space infrastructure.”

Astrolight has been previously selected for NATO’s DIANA program, placing itself among the top 3% of NATO’s dual-use start-ups. It has participated in Seraphim Space and CASSINI accelerators, and has already established commercial contracts such as CAILABS, projects with the Lithuanian Navy, and ESA programs.