About PhotonVentures
PhotonVentures is a venture capital firm founded in 2023. It is primarily based out of Breukelen, Netherlands. As of Oct 2026, PhotonVentures is an active investor, having invested in 8 companies, with 2 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Series A round in Netherlands based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from High Tech to Semiconductors and Enterprise Applications. Most recently it participated in the $***** Seed round of Golbriak Space A lot of funds co-invest with PhotonVentures, with names like Join Capital sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. PhotonVentures has team of 7 people including 3 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Count
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed & Series A
Deals in last 12 months
PhotonVentures' List of Top Investments
PhotonVentures has a portfolio of 8 companies. Their most notable investments are in Astrape Networks and Golbriak Space.Their portfolio spans across Netherlands, Austria, Estonia and 3 more locations. They have invested in High Tech, Semiconductors, Enterprise Applications and 2 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A stages. Here is the list of top investments by PhotonVentures:
1. NcodiN
Provider of processors for HPC computing. It is a deeptech platform that develops and provides an optical interposer to support the chiplet-to-chiplet communications in the High Performance Computing and Artificial Intelligence processes. It supports system capabilities by leveraging laser systems and photonics to explore the applications. It provides solutions in areas of climate modelling, autonomous driving, medical treatment, and smart cities.
Key facts about NcodiN
- Founded Year: 2023
- Location: Palaiseau (France)
- Stage: Seed
- Total Funding till date: $22.3M
- Employee Count: 37 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Earlybird, Verve Ventures and 5 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Seed, Nov 20, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
2. QuiX Quantum
Provider of photon-powered quantum computing processors. It designs and develops plug-and-play reconfigurable quantum photonic processors, photonic quantum computers, photonic processors, and custom products. Its features include room-temperature operability, scalability, and technology maturity.
Key facts about QuiX Quantum
- Founded Year: 2019
- Location: Enschede (Netherlands)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $23.2M
- Employee Count: 72 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: EIC Fund, FORWARD.one and 7 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Jul 10, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
3. Lumai
Manufacturer of optical computing systems for artificial intelligence inference workloads. These systems utilize three-dimensional optical components to process large language models. The hardware architecture incorporates spatial parallelism and memory structures designed to facilitate data throughput. The technology integrates into data center environments to support computational tasks without reliance on traditional transistor-only accelerators. The design utilizes industry-standard manufacturing processes to enable scaling for high-capacity memory access and data processing requirements.
Key facts about Lumai
- Founded Year: 2022
- Location: Oxford (United Kingdom)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $12.4M
- Employee Count: 29 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: State Farm, IP Group and 8 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Apr 02, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
4. vitrealab
Developer of light engines and waveguide technology for augmented reality displays. The company focuses on creating lightweight, small, and bright light engines suitable for outdoor use in augmented reality glasses. It develops display components with quality inspection systems for augmented reality glasses. The company also offers solutions to overcome hurdles of light engines.
Key facts about vitrealab
- Founded Year: 2018
- Location: Vienna (Austria)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $11M
- Employee Count: 25 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: APEX Ventures, aws Gründungsfonds and 11 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Jan 07, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
5. Mantispectra
Manufacturer of near-infrared spectral sensors for material analysis applications. These compact, chip-scale sensors enable real-time, non-destructive characterization of organic materials. The technology utilizes computational spectroscopy and monolithic integration to provide broadband data for industrial process control, consumer appliances, clinical diagnostics, and wearable health monitoring devices. These sensors allow for integration into various products to facilitate intelligence regarding material properties.
Key facts about Mantispectra
- Founded Year: 2020
- Location: Eindhoven (Netherlands)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $4.26M
- Employee Count: 26 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Innovation Industries, 819 Capital Partners and 3 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Grant (prize money), Jan 01, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
PhotonVentures' Year-on-Year Investment Trends
PhotonVentures has invested in 8 companies over the last 3 years, with an average of 2 new investments annually in the last 3 years. In 2025, it made 4 investments, while as of Oct 2026, it has made 3 investments in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Golbriak Space and most recent follow-on round was in Brilliance.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 1 | 2 | 3 |
2025 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
PhotonVentures' Investments by Stage
PhotonVentures has made 5 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $7.83M and 3 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $10.6M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 5 |
Series A | 3 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
PhotonVentures' Investments by Sector
PhotonVentures has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the High Tech, Semiconductors, Enterprise Applications, Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech and Telecom. Notably, it has invested in 8 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 8 Tech companies, 6 Tech hardware companies and at least 3 companies focusing on Software.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
High Tech | 6 |
Semiconductors | 5 |
Enterprise Applications | 2 |
Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech | 1 |
Telecom | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
PhotonVentures' Investments by Geography
PhotonVentures has made most investments in Netherlands (3), followed by Austria where it has made 1 investment.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Netherlands | 3 |
Austria | 1 |
Estonia | 1 |
France | 1 |
Italy | 1 |
Others | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
PhotonVentures' recent investments
PhotonVentures has made 3 investments in 2026 so far. Golbriak Space and Brilliance are the latest among them.Here are the most recent investments by PhotonVentures:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oct 08, 2026 | Estonia | Seed | 1285 | [+1] | |
Apr 03, 2026 | Netherlands | Series A | 8440 | ||
Jan 07, 2026 | Austria | Series A | 6396 | [+6] | |
Nov 20, 2025 | France | Seed | 6283 | [+5] | |
Jul 10, 2025 | Netherlands | Series A | 1106 | [+3] |
Team profile of PhotonVentures
PhotonVentures has a team of 7 members including 3 Partners and 2 Principals located in Netherlands. PhotonVentures' team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of all team members in PhotonVentures:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | Utrecht | - | ||
Partner | Netherlands | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | ||
Partner | Utrecht | - | - | |
Principal | Amsterdam | - | - | |
Principal | Amsterdam | - | - |
Co-investors of PhotonVentures
Over the past 3 years, 39 investors have co-invested in PhotonVentures's portfolio companies. This includes only funds.
- Invested before PhotonVentures: PhotonDelta, Europa and 12 others have invested in rounds before PhotonVentures. There are 2 companies where PhotonDelta has invested before PhotonVentures and 2 companies where Europa has invested before PhotonVentures.
- Top Co-investors of PhotonVentures: 17 investors entered a company along with PhotonVentures. These include investors like Join Capital (2 companies).
- Invested after PhotonVentures: A total of 8 investors have invested in PhotonVentures's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include LIFTT (1 company), Constructor Capital (1 company) and aws Gründungsfonds (1 company).
Recent News related to PhotonVentures
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Vienna’s Vitrealab Secures €9.4M for Laser-Based AR Display TechnologyStartup Rise EU•Jan 07, 2026•Constructor Capital, LIFTT, vitrealab, aws Gründungsfonds and 5 others
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Hypershell Raises $70M in Pre-B & B Rounds, Valuation Nears $400MPandaily•Nov 27, 2025•Hypershell, PhotonVentures, Source Code Capital
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NcodiN Secures €16M Seed Round to Break AI’s Main Bottleneck with the World’s Smallest LaserBusiness Wire•Nov 20, 2025•NcodiN, PhotonVentures, Verve Ventures, MIG Capital and 6 others
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Dutch firm QuiX Quantum raises $16.2m to launch quantum computerTech in Asia•Jul 11, 2025•QuiX Quantum, Invest-NL, European Innovation Council, FORWARD.one and 2 others
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QuiX Quantum Secures $17.5M Series A Funding for Quantum Computer DevelopmentQuantum Computing Report•Jul 11, 2025•QuiX Quantum, Invest-NL, European Innovation Council, FORWARD.one and 2 others
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Astrape Networks Raises €7.9M in Seed FundingStartup Rise EU•Apr 30, 2025•Astrape Networks, PhotonVentures, Join Capital, BOM and 1 other
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UK Lumai Raises Over $10M in FundingFinSMEs•Apr 02, 2025•Lumai, Constructor Capital, IP Group, PhotonVentures and 6 others
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Eindhoven’s PhotonVentures secures investment for its PhotonVentures Fund I from Invest-NL, othersSilicon Canals•Oct 11, 2024•PhotonVentures, Invest-NL, PhotonDelta, Oost NL and 6 others
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Renegade Partners raises $128M to fuel early-stage tech investmentsTech Funding News•May 02, 2024•Renegade Partners, PhotonVentures
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Photon Ventures raises €15mElectronics Weekly•Apr 17, 2024•PhotonVentures, NWO, European Chips Act, PhotonDelta
