Rockley Photonics raises $40 million funding for platform expansion

Rockley Photonics has raised $40 million in its most recent round of funding, taking its total raised since its launch to $100 million. The company says that this will rapidly expand the design and production of its platform for high performance optical networking solutions, imaging and sensor photonics, and custom photonics for consumer applications.

Founded in 2013 by entrepreneur Andrew Rickman, Rockley’s differentiated silicon manufacturing technology allows the production of devices at a competitive cost and with lower power consumption. The company says its ability to integrate electronics and photonics without compromising manufacturability or performance enables it to serve numerous emerging applications. Target markets include consumer electronics, autonomous vehicle, biomedical and industrial sectors, as well as high-performance networking optics for data centre and infrastructure networking. 

‘The industry has responded strongly to our platform approach, especially given its flexibility to address a range of market applications,’ said Dr. Andrew Rickman, chief executive officer, Rockley Photonics. ‘This round of funding will enable us to focus our technology on these emerging, high-growth market opportunities.’

In January, Rockley announced a $42m joint venture with Hengtong Optic-Electric Co. Ltd to manufacture high-performance optical transceiver modules based on its silicon photonics technology, and last year it formed a partnership with the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) at the UK’s University of Southampton to develop integrated photonics technology for mass market applications (see Rockley Photonics teams up with Southampton University on silicon photonics).