Matterwave Ventures
Canvas Category Consultancy : Company : Venture Capital
We fund European early-stage industrial hardware and software companies, empowering them to become global leaders. We are focused on solutions that shape the future of industrial value creation. As sector agnostic investors, we are looking for ground-breaking software and hardware solutions – from materials to components to systems to software. We support our portfolio companies with a genuine interest in their products, deep market knowledge, strong industry connections, and unparalleled investment experience in the sector.
Assembly Line
Akhetonics gets fresh funding for a contrarian bet on all-optical chips
Photonics — a field that underpins light-based systems for manipulating data — has a bright future, as the rise of AI demands better computing performance, but it has yet to be fully applied to a new generation of chips. German startup Akhetonics hopes to change that. It has raised a €6 million seed funding round (approximately $6.33 million) to deliver on this promise, TechCrunch can exclusively reveal.
While several companies are working with photons on tangential issues or point solutions that mix electronics and photonics, Akhetonics — whose name is a portmanteau of Akhet, an Egyptian hieroglyph for “horizon,” and photonics — is outright aiming to build a general-purpose chip.
This will still take time, but maybe not as much as some may think; Akhetonics plans to deliver its first commercial product to customers mid-next year. Kissner is confident that it’s already confirmed feasibility thanks to its previous funding round by deep tech VC firm Runa Capital in 2023. “Our big goal was to show that you can do general purpose computing using only optics, and that is something that we have now shown,” he said.
Firecell raises €6.6M Seed funding for 5G industrial solution
Firecell announced the completion of a €6.6 million Seed round in equity led by Ventech and Matterwave Ventures, accompanied by Bpifrance’s Digital Venture fund and Bouygues Telecom Initiative. The funds will be used to develop a new range of products with new features such as geolocation and protection against cyber-attacks. They will also help deploy Firecell’s offering in Europe, notably in Germany, the leading European industrial market, where the startup is establishing a subsidiary, and to recruit new team members.
By reducing the footprint of 5G technologies to operate on standard servers and through strategic partnerships with renowned manufacturers, Firecell enables industrial enterprises of all sizes to pave the way for a smart industry.
Innerspace secures € 5.7 Million for Further Expansion to the USA
The Innsbruck-based tech start-up Innerspace, which enables risk assessment of production processes and effective training of cleanroom personnel for leading pharmaceutical companies using software and Virtual Reality (VR), can advance its growth trajectory after a highly successful funding round. In July, U.S. investor Riverside invested in the Tyrolean company. Just days before the year-end, Innerspace finalized a substantial seed round with the new lead investor Matterwave Ventures. The existing three investors, MAD Ventures, aws Gründungsfonds, and High-Tech Gründerfonds, also reinvested.
With the fresh capital, Innerspace will expand its international market presence and further develop its unique “Frame-by-Frame” technology. The Tyrolean company will focus even more on the large growth market in America in the future. Numerous renowned pharmaceutical companies worldwide already trust the company’s expertise.