QantX has led a £600K investment round for Light Trace Photonics – a leading innovator in the integrated photonics industry – to help engineers in the quantum industry get their products to market quicker. We met with Jake Biele, Co-Founder at Light Trace Photonics, to hear their story.
Light Trace Photonics was founded in 2022 by Dr Jake Biele and Dr Dominic Sulway, who met while studying for their Quantum Engineering PhD at Bristol University.
They were both working on developing technology known as photonic chips – microchips powered by light as well as electricity – for quantum computing sensing applications. This technology is in its infancy, and they first had to spend significant time developing the core components required to deliver their innovative quantum technologies.
The ‘aha’ moment
This led them to realise a key gap in the market to support other photonic chip developers with access to tried-and-tested components needed to build other, high-impact, next-generation photonic technologies, and Light Trace Photonics was formed.
“Everything we do at Light Trace is about helping companies to rapidly prototype and deliver their product to market. We’re helping engineers to be trained in this technology – plugging a much-needed skills gap – while also supporting the full innovation pipeline. We do this by providing the engineers with proven components at the chip level that reduces development risk and expedites product launch.”
Photonic microchips are mainly used in the quantum and telecommunications markets, so the team is focusing on enabling companies pioneering photonic technology in these industries to get their integrated photonic products to market.
“Leading Light Trace Photonics on its mission to get impactful, photonics-enabled, technology to market suits me because I’ve always been entrepreneurial,” explains Jake. “I studied quantum engineering because it was a route into developing interesting and high-impact technology that can have a big impact.
Our founding team is strong as I’m business-focused while Dom is passionate about getting the technology out of the lab and into the real world – so we complement each other quite nicely.”
Upskilling and quick growth
Before launching Light Trace Photonics, Jake spent six months working for another Bristol-based startup called Siliton, who are developing a next-generation eye scanner using cutting-edge photonic chip technology. He was their first employee, and this experience gave him a good understanding of how to scale a startup..
He and Dom then won a Fast Start Grant from Innovate UK and the Blavatnik Prize from QantX, receiving a grant of £50,000 which enabled them to focus on Light Trace Photonics full-time.
Their dedication was recognised when they won the prestigious Young Innovator Award, and a further two grants from Innovate UK enabling them to develop and launch their first product, the LightPort – a tool for rapid photonic chip prototyping and training.
What’s next for Light trace Photonics?
The founders now have a full-time engineer working alongside them and are looking to scale their team in order to launch their LightCraft component access platform, allowing engineers to browse their library of proven photonic chip components and license them for use in their own technology.
LightCraft offers customers unprecedented access to a comprehensive library of tried-and-tested photonic chip components and subsystems, streamlining the design process and significantly reducing time-to-market.
Dr Harry Alexander, Investment Manager at QantX, says:
“Photonics is a critical and enabling sector for our modern society, with new complex photonic integrated circuits (PICs) representing a paradigm shift in the form and functionality of devices. Having worked with Light Trace since 2022, we’re excited to back them in delivering LightCraft, a novel platform to enable rapid PIC development.”
Light Trace Photonics are based at the Quantum Technology and Innovation Centre in Bristol. Visit www.ltphotonics.co.uk to learn more about how LightCraft can streamline your photonic chip design process and support your product development. Reach out to Light Trace Photonics at contact@ltphotonics.co.uk