Ahren invests in Rockley Photonics
Ahren Innovation Capital sees photonics platform as an enabling technology in emerging AI and healthcare applications
Rockley Photonics has announced Ahren Innovation Capital as an investor. Ahren is a Cambridge-based British investment fund that focuses on four broad fields of activity; the brain and artificial intelligence; genetics and platform technologies; space and robotics; and efficient energy.
Rockley, which has offices in California, Oxford, and Helsinki, has developed an innovative silicon photonics platform. The platform has potential within sensor applications, where low-cost integrated optics solutions are sought for applications in areas such as in machine vision and environmental sensing. Its technology also boosts performance in high-density communications applications, such as data centres, 5G infrastructure and AI cluster compute environments, where using photonics eliminates the performance constraints of traditional electrical connections.
“Rockley’s platform aligns closely with our interests and spans very well across the application space of our target markets, especially as an enabling technology in new AI and healthcare opportunities,” said Alice Newcombe-Ellis, Ahren’s founding and managing partner. “By starting with a clean sheet and designing a bespoke fabrication process, Rockley has created a highly versatile platform solution. Importantly, the technology can be manufactured cheaply and at scale for high-volume markets.”
“Ahren’s partners have exceptional credibility and their support for Rockley further validates our technology, strategy and our experienced team,” said Andrew Rickman, CEO, Rockley Photonics. “Silicon photonics enables novel solutions that unlock extraordinary application capabilities. Our unique manufacturing processes, expertise and solutions put us several years ahead of the competition.”
