Amsterdam-based Optics11, a life science instrumentation firm that specialises in fibre optics, has reportedly secured €17M in new funding to advance its mission of safeguarding Europe’s vital infrastructure.
The spherical was led by Ahead.One, a Dutch enterprise capital fund centered on industrial and bodily applied sciences.
New traders, together with SET Ventures (Netherlands) and Be a part of Capital (Germany), additionally joined them within the funding spherical, experiences FD.nl.
The funding announcement comes within the midst of rising geopolitical issues.
Notably, the corporate made a turnover of €4.5M final 12 months, the report provides.
Led by Dutch Marine officer Paul Heiden, Optics11 develops fibre-optic sensor know-how designed to detect threats and mechanical faults throughout submarine cables, transformer stations, and different hard-to-reach infrastructure property.
Beneath Heiden’s management, the Amsterdam firm got down to give attention to two sectors — defence and power.
Within the power sector, Optics11’s sensors assist determine early indicators of wear and tear in Europe’s previous transformer community. There are greater than 90,000 transformer stations in Europe, and virtually half are over 40 years previous. This makes preventative upkeep important.
On the defence facet, the Dutch firm is pioneering options that detect underwater sabotage makes an attempt, corresponding to these just lately suspected within the Baltic Sea.
In September 2024, Heiden got down to increase €10M to finance manufacturing.
Initially, this proved difficult, as defence know-how was not interesting to traders on the time, states the report.
Nonetheless, the state of affairs modified in November when traders began reaching out to him.
He famous, “Cables had simply been severed by anchors within the Baltic Sea.”
The corporate at the moment operates out of Amsterdam-Zuidoost, using round 70 individuals.
