Observed Signal · Sep 21, 2026 · Market Signal · Source: New Ventures BC · Impact: 4/5
Dream Photonics Takes First Place in the 2026 New Ventures BC Competition
Dream Photonics wins the 2026 New Ventures BC Competition. Also announced: Cross-Canada Partnership to Advance Intellectual Property Education, and New Ventures BC and Innovate BC Become CENGN Members to Provide IP Services to Canadian Tech Startups and Scaleups.
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Cross-Canada Partnership to Advance Intellectual Property Education
New Ventures BC announces a cross-Canada partnership to advance intellectual property education, along with a separate announcement that New Ventures BC and Innovate BC become CENGN members to provide IP services to Canadian tech startups and scaleups.
Lightspring Raises €3.5M for Photonic Chip Manufacturing
French startup Lightspring has secured over €3.5 million in financing, including a €3.1 million seed round led by Atlantic and OVNI Capital, with participation from Concept Ventures, Ixcore, Plug and Play Ventures, and business angels, plus a €350,000 grant from France's i-Lab competition. The Besançon-based deeptech company uses 3D lithography (two-photon polymerization) to manufacture optical coupling structures directly on photonic integrated circuits, targeting coupling losses below 0.5 dB per interface and aiming to reduce packaging costs, which currently account for about 50% of a PIC's cost. The funding will support the development of a Process Design Kit, expand the team to 12, and qualify the fabrication process for industrial use, particularly for co-packaged optics in AI infrastructure. The technology originates from research at FEMTO-ST Institute.
iPronics Raises $125M from Nvidia and Others
iPronics, a Spanish photonics startup based in Valencia, has raised $125 million (€107.57 million) in a Series B round co-led by Maverick Silicon and Light Street Capital, with participation from Nvidia and other investors. The company develops optical circuit switches (OCS) for AI data centers, offering low-latency, power-efficient network reconfiguration to improve GPU utilization and address bandwidth constraints. Total funding now stands at $177 million (€152.3 million), which will be used to shrink hardware by 20x, scale operations, and accelerate commercial rollout. iPronics, a spin-off from the Technical University of Valencia, has opened an office in Santa Clara, California, and partnered with Fabrinet for manufacturing. CEO Christian Dupont will lead commercialization, while CTO Daniel Pérez-López highlights growing demand for self-reconfiguring networks, positioning iPronics as a key player beyond Google's in-house optical switching.
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