Dutch photonics startup MicroAlign secures funding

Eindhoven-based MicroAlign, a spin-off from the Eindhoven University of Technology, has secured €350K in funding from the Brabant Startup Fonds BV, with the support of TU/e KTO – The Gate.

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With this funding, the company will expand the range of its fibre array specifications, enabling smaller pitch sizes and supporting a higher number of fibres.

The announcement comes over a year after raising €1M in a seed round of funding.

MicroAlign: Providing special fibre arrays 

Led by Simone Cardarelli, MicroAlign invented a micro-positioning system for aligning multiple optical fibres, which is their core technology.

This system’s potential to ease assembly tolerances in photonic manufacturing motivated the team to explore its market potential.

Founded in 2021, MicroAlign’s technology originated from a Ph.D. project at the Eindhoven University of Technology, part of the MEMPHIS II programme funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

MicroAlign have created technology that allows for the simultaneous connection of multiple closely spaced fibres to multiport optical components with sub-micrometre accuracy.

Their micro-manipulation technology enables the production of fibre arrays with core position accuracy of better than ±100 nm. These arrays are important for applications that require precise photon management.

These advancements support critical applications across telecommunications, data centres, quantum technologies, and beyond.

MicroAlign benefits from access to TU/e facilities and the Nanolab Eindhoven cleanroom, leveraging photonic, electronic, and mechanical expertise to deliver a quality solution.

While various photonics-based markets can benefit from MicroAlign’s technology, quantum photonic computing most urgently needs its fibre array technology.