As compute power has increased over the past few decades, the next generation of computers are being developed. Artificial intelligence use cases have demanded faster and more powerful computers with fewer energy requirements. Photonic supercomputers that use light-powered computer chips may be able to help boost performance and decrease power consumption. Lightmatter, a MicroVentures portfolio company, is aiming to tackle this challenge. In this blog, learn more about Lightmatter’s history and milestones, from Lightmatter’s founding story to Lightmatter’s funding rounds.

Lightmatter’s History & Milestones

With a background in R&D at Micron Technologies, Nicholas Harris, Lightmatter’s co-founder and CEO, identified a roadblock towards advanced computing technology; traditional integrated chips would slow down advancements in computing due to size, energy usage, and efficiency. Harris left Micron to complete his PhD and postdoctorate in electrical engineering and computer science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Lightmatter’s Founding Story

During his time at MIT, Harris once again identified gaps in the field in his doctoral thesis, proposing a potential solution. As he explored his thesis more, he realized the same innovations for photonic quantum computing could also apply for deep learning. This led Harris to abandon his professorial plans and co-found Lightmatter in 2017 alongside Darius Bunandar and Thomas Graham, both of which he knew through MIT’s photonics lab and MBA program, respectively. In its first year, the startup won $100k through MIT’s Entrepreneurship Competition.[1]

Lightmatter’s Thesis

The longstanding measure of technological advancement for compute power has been Moore’s Law, articulated in 1965 by Gordon Moore. Moore’s Law observed that the transistor count on circuits would double every two years. The observation, in addition to Dennard scaling, which states that as transistors shrink, their power density remains constant were the foundation for computing being cheaper, faster, smaller, and more energy efficient.

Despite these laws, many speculate that with the speed of recent technological advancements, Moore’s law may be coming to an end. In fact, NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang considered Moore’s law to be dead in September 2022.[2] Harris noticed these same limitations and believed photonic, or light-powered chips, could be an adequate solution for both supercomputing and deep learning.

Lightmatter’s Products

To address the limitations on computing power, Lightmatter has created three main products: Passage, Envise, and Idiom.

Passage

Lightmatter created Passage M1000 to be a 3D photonic chip designed for high bandwidth and energy efficiency. With a focus on near-zero latency and energy efficiency, Passage is suited for high-performance computing systems, artificial intelligence (AI) model training, and large-scale machine learning (ML) inference. While not available in the market yet, it was showcased at the Optical Fiber Conference in San Francisco in April 2025 is anticipated to be released in summer 2025.

Envise

Introduced in 2021 and proclaimed to be one of the world’s first photonic computing platforms and the first commercial, general-purpose photonic AI accelerator, Envise is designed to reduce the carbon footprint and operating costs of datacenters. By combining electronics, photonics, and new algorithms, the chip can leverage the strengths of both electrons and light for deep-learning applications.

Idiom

Designed to power the backend, Idiom is a comprehensive software platform engineered to deploy on the company’s Envise hardware to interface with deep learning frameworks to optimize neural network models. Idiom also includes ML libraries for compressing and quantizing neural networks, making it suitable for enhancing efficiency across high-performance computing and cloud computing applications.

Lightmatter Milestones

Lightmatter has achieved multiple milestones since its inception in 2017. Some of its recent milestones are, but not limited to, the following:

IPO Plans: After its $400M Series D fundraise in October 2024 at a valuation of $4.4B, CEO Harris stated that the company is looking to go public through a potential initial public offering (IPO) as its next source of funding[3]
Notable Partnerships: Formed strategic partnerships in November 2024 with semiconductor packaging, testing, and manufacturing firms Amkor Technology, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, and GlobalFoundaries to develop one of the world’s largest 3D-packaged chip complexes
International Expansion: Lightmatter reported plans in October 2024 to further expand its team across the U.S. and Canada
Government Grant: Lightmatter received a $4.8M U.S. government grant in 2022 to develop an electro-photonic computing solution for autonomous vehicles in collaboration with Harvard and Boston University

Lightmatter Funding

Lightmatter has raised $850 million across 6 funding rounds and was valued at $4.4 billion as of its last funding round in October 2024.[4] Its most recent funding round brought in $400 million in new funding, led by T. Rowe Price with participation from Fidelity and Alphabet’s GV. The new capital is planned to be used to manufacture and deploy Lightmatter’s photonic chips in partner data centers, as well as team expansion in the U.S. and Canada.

Final Thoughts

Since its founding in 2017, Lightmatter aims to develop the hardware and software systems to advance AI systems and enable cheaper, faster, and more energy efficient chips for AI training and deep learning. The company has grown since Harris’ original innovative thoughts, and it will be interesting to see how they develop going forward.

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[1] https://research.contrary.com/company/lightmatter

[2] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/moores-laws-dead-nvidia-ceo-jensen-says-in-justifying-gaming-card-price-hike-11663798618

[3] https://www.reuters.com/technology/photonic-startup-lightmatter-raises-400-million-amid-ai-datacenter-boom-eyes-ipo-2024-10-16/

[4] https://www.reuters.com/technology/photonic-startup-lightmatter-raises-400-million-amid-ai-datacenter-boom-eyes-ipo-2024-10-16/

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The information presented here is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be, nor should it be construed or used as, comprehensive offering documentation for any security, investment, tax or legal advice, a recommendation, or an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, an interest, directly or indirectly, in any company. Investing in both early-stage and later-stage companies carries a high degree of risk. A loss of an investor’s entire investment is possible, and no profit may be realized. Investors should be aware that these types of investments are illiquid and should anticipate holding until an exit occurs.

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MicroVentures’ Portfolio Company: Lightmatter’s History and Milestones