What stage does PhotonVentures invest at?

PhotonVentures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, Growth, Late Stage stages.

What is PhotonVentures's typical check size?

PhotonVentures typically writes checks of $1.1M – $2.7M.

Where is PhotonVentures located?

PhotonVentures is headquartered in Hilversum, NL.

PhotonVentures

Venture capital

Hilversum · Pre-Seed–Late Stage · 8 people tracked

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Investment thesis

PhotonVentures is a specialist European VC firm investing exclusively in photonics, which it views as a trillion-dollar infrastructure transition. As Moore's Law nears its physical limits and electronic systems face power, bandwidth, and latency constraints, the firm believes photonics extends the technological frontier by enabling faster, more compact, and energy-efficient processing, transmission, and sensing. It targets early-stage, high-growth photonics leaders across sectors such as AI & computing, data & communications, security, autonomy & robotics, healthcare & biosensing, AR/VR, and quantum. Positioned at the center of the European photonics ecosystem, it leverages supply-chain signals, industry buyers, and research institutions for proprietary deal flow.

Invests inAI & Machine Learning Biotech Data & Infrastructure Deep Tech Hardware Quantum Computing Robotics SemiconductorsEuropeGermanyNetherlandsUnited Kingdom

Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.

Stage

Pre-Seed–Late Stage

Check

$1.1M – $2.7M

Hilversum, NL

Instruments

Equity

Founded

2023

Tracked investments

Team · 8 people

from the firm's website & public directories

Ewit Roos· General Partner & Co-Founder· Eindhoven, North Brabant, Netherlandsin

Co-founder of PhotonVentures and PhotonDelta, where he served as CEO and built the Dutch integrated photonics ecosystem, securing €240M in initial funding. At PhotonVentures he focuses on fund strategy, strategic partnerships, and ecosystem development. He holds degrees from Nyenrode Business University and Erasmus University Rotterdam.

e•••@photonventures.vcreveal

Joachim de Sterke· General Partner & Co-Founder· The Randstad, Netherlandsin

Co-founder of PhotonVentures and PhotonDelta, where he led financial strategy and funding programs for the Dutch wafer-scale photonics ecosystem. He leads fund strategy and capital allocation, previously founding SaaS companies and the Creative Capital Studio investment platform. He holds an MSc in Finance from Erasmus University Rotterdam.

j•••@photonventures.vcreveal

Pieter Klinkert· General Partner & Co-Founder· Utrecht Areain

Co-founder of PhotonVentures with over 20 years across venture capital and entrepreneurship, previously holding investment roles at Oost NL and PhotonDelta. He leads deal execution, portfolio management, and company building, and holds degrees in Law and Economics.

p•••@photonventures.vcreveal

Rijkman Groenink· General Partner & Co-Founder· Utrecht Areain

Co-founder of PhotonVentures and former CEO of ABN AMRO who later became an active investor co-founding private equity initiatives in renewable energy. He contributes expertise in governance, institutional relationships, and long-term value creation, holding degrees in Law and Business Administration.

r•••@photonventures.vcreveal

Flo Pattiwael· Principal· Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlandsin

Principal leading investment sourcing, execution, and portfolio value creation, and involved in investor relations and fundraising. He previously gained investment experience at PGGM Investment Management and holds a Cum Laude MSc in Finance & Investments from Rotterdam School of Management.

f•••@photonventures.vcreveal

Jacqueline Tange· Office Manager· Netherlandsin

Office Manager supporting operational management, investor relations, events, and communications at PhotonVentures, with extensive experience across operations and executive support.

Casper Vissers· Investment Associate· Delft, South Holland, Netherlandsin

Investment Associate supporting deal sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio management. He holds Master's degrees in Financial Econometrics from VU Amsterdam and Aerospace Engineering from TU Delft.

c•••@photonventures.vcreveal

Evelien Talsma· Investment Associate· Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlandsin

Investment Associate supporting deal sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio management. She holds a Master's in Nanobiology from TU Delft and a Bachelor's in law from Erasmus University Rotterdam.

e•••@photonventures.vcreveal

What they invest in

from 15 of 19 portfolio companies

Deep Tech ×15Hardware ×10Semiconductors ×7Medical Devices ×3Quantum Computing ×3AI & Machine Learning ×2Advanced Manufacturing ×1Biotech ×1

HQs:Netherlands×6Austria×1Belgium×1France×1

Investments · 19 tracked

founders shown can be your intro path

Arycs Techarycs-tech.comin

Arycs Technologies develops power-efficient, coherent-class optical connectivity based on silicon photonics, coherent DSP, and integrated optical architectures.

Deep TechHardwareSemiconductors

Astrapenetworksastrapenetworks.comin

Astrape Networks builds Effiniti, a self-configuring, in-band distributed network fabric that unifies scale-up, scale-out and scale-across, composing virtual racks, pods and clusters on demand across single or multiple datacenters.

Data & InfrastructureDeep TechHardware

Brilliancergbbrilliancergb.com

Brilliance develops a compact, energy-efficient RGB laser chip based on a patented silicon-nitride integrated photonics platform, manufactured at wafer scale using semiconductor processes.

Deep TechHardwareSemiconductorsEnschede, NL

Cubiq Technologiescubiq-technologies.comin 𝕏

CUbIQ Technologies develops quantum communication technology, including quantum key distribution (QKD) demonstrated in a QSFP-28 pluggable form factor.

CybersecurityDeep TechQuantum ComputingEindhoven, NL

Deltadiagnosticsdeltadiagnostics.nlin

Delta Diagnostics (Delta Life Science) develops label-free, multiplexed biosensing instruments based on photonic integrated circuits, aimed at faster research and lower cost of ownership than existing methods like ELISA.

BiotechDeep TechMedical Devices

Bart de Boer(CTO)

EFFECT Photonicseffectphotonics.comin 𝕏

Efinstrumentsefinstruments.com

EFI is a medical technology and device company developing haptic-feedback technology for laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery, using patented optical and strain-gauge sensors to give surgeons tactile and force feedback on tissue stiffness and arterial pulsations.

Deep TechHardwareMedical DevicesMaastricht, NL

Ward Vleugels(Director)inJoep Gubbels(Director)in

KPN icon diamondsmartphotonics.nlin 𝕏

Lionix Internationallionix-international.comin

LioniX International develops and manufactures customized microsystem solutions, specializing in photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and MEMS.

Deep TechHardwareSemiconductors

Lumailumai.aiin

Lumai develops AI accelerators that use 3D optical computing instead of silicon-only chips to run workloads such as large language models.

AI & Machine LearningDeep TechSemiconductors

Mantispectramantispectra.comin

MantiSpectra develops ChipSense, a miniaturized hyperspectral sensor chip and development platform for material analysis and health insights.

Deep TechHardwareSemiconductors

Microalignmicroalign.nlin

MicroAlign manufactures fiber arrays with actively aligned fiber cores to achieve high pitch accuracy and low-loss coupling between optical fibers and photonic integrated chips.

Deep TechHardwareQuantum ComputingEindhoven, NL

Simone Cardarelli(CEO)

Ncodinncodin.comin

NcodiN develops optical interconnect technology based on nanophotonics to enhance AI processor performance and efficiency.

AI & Machine LearningDeep TechSemiconductors

Francesco Manegatti(Co-founder, CEO)inFabrice Raineri(Co-founder, CTO)in

Phixphix.comin 𝕏

PHIX is a European packaging foundry providing integrated photonics (PIC) packaging and contract manufacturing services, including hybrid integration, optical fiber assembly, and RF/electrical connectivity for all major PIC material platforms.

Advanced ManufacturingDeep TechHardware

Photonfirstphotonfirst.comin 𝕏

Quixquantumquixquantum.com

QuiX builds photonic quantum computers designed to operate inside data centers and HPC environments rather than specialized lab settings.

Deep TechHardwareQuantum Computing

Scantinelscantinel.comin

Surfixdxsurfixdx.comin

Surfix develops a photonic diagnostics platform, combining a photonic biosensor chip with microfluidic cartridges and a desktop reader, to enable point-of-care testing for disease detection and monitoring.

Deep TechDigital HealthMedical Devices

Vitrealabvitrealab.comin 𝕏

VitreaLab develops light engines for augmented-reality displays, based on its proprietary Quantum Light Chip (QLC) technology that generates compact, power-efficient, high-brightness light for AR glasses.

Deep TechHardwareSemiconductorsVienna, AT

Portfolio news

latest coverage across their companies

Optics & Photonics News - NCodiN Closes €16 Million Seed Round

Ncodin · optica-opn.org · Nov 21, 2025

Frequently asked questions

What stage does PhotonVentures invest at?: PhotonVentures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, Growth, Late Stage stages.
What is PhotonVentures's typical check size?: PhotonVentures typically writes checks of $1.1M – $2.7M.
What sectors does PhotonVentures focus on?: PhotonVentures focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Biotech, Data & Infrastructure, Deep Tech, Hardware, Quantum Computing, Robotics, Semiconductors.
Where is PhotonVentures located?: PhotonVentures is headquartered in Hilversum, NL.

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