Morphotonics has raised more than €40 million in a Series B round to expand its waveguide equipment business into data centre optics, Data Center Dynamics reported on 22 September.
Key points
- Existing investors joined Invest-NL, the European Innovation Council Fund, Ernij Next and the European Investment Bank in the round.
- Morphotonics says the funding will increase capacity for its Cypris waveguide manufacturing platform and support a move into data centre components.
- Hardware accounts for roughly 90% of revenue, with 10 to 15 systems deployed globally.
- Its next machine is expected to produce more than 6 million waveguides a year and begin shipping in early 2027.
Series B extends funding begun in 2024
Existing investors 3M Ventures, Innovation Industries and BOM participated alongside Invest-NL, the European Innovation Council Fund, Ernij Next and the European Investment Bank. The financing adds backers to a round that began in 2024 and was raised in several instalments, TechCrunch reported.
Morphotonics says it will use the money to increase production capacity for Cypris, its automated, modular system for manufacturing optical waveguides. It also plans to add engineering, commercial and customer support staff and strengthen its supplier and manufacturing networks.
The company, founded in 2014 and based in Veldhoven in the Netherlands, makes equipment used to produce waveguides for augmented reality glasses. Its process uses a mould to press microscopic patterns into a liquid resin coating, which is then hardened with ultraviolet light.
Morphotonics claims its platforms let manufacturers reproduce optical patterns across large surfaces at higher volumes and lower costs than traditional methods. Display manufacturers buy the equipment and integrate it into their production lines, while Morphotonics supplies process instruction and chemicals, chief executive Hugo da Silva said.
The company also sells process licences. Roughly 90% of its revenue currently comes from hardware sales, and 10 to 15 systems are deployed globally. Morphotonics expects deployments to reach 50 over the next two to three years, with services contributing more revenue as that installed base grows.
Cypris targets higher waveguide output
Waveguides direct light through thin pieces of glass or plastic to place an image in front of a glasses wearer’s eyes. Morphotonics’ technology can help make the kind of waveguides used in products including Meta Ray-Ban Display, Even Reality and Magic Leap, according to TechCrunch.
Morphotonics reported that its revenue tripled in 2025 compared with 2024, Pulse 2.0 reported. Its workforce grew from roughly 30 employees when da Silva joined in September 2024 to 60. The company plans further hiring and expects its headcount to settle at about 70 to 75.
Its manufacturing support teams are in China, Taiwan, South Korea and the United States. Da Silva said display manufacturers typically put Morphotonics’ machines into their own production processes, rather than buying finished waveguides from the company.
Da Silva said the next machine, now under construction, will be capable of producing more than 6 million waveguides annually. That capacity is a specification for the equipment being built, while the current deployment figure covers systems already in use.
Morphotonics pursues data centre optics
Morphotonics says the funding will also support production of optical components for data centres. Its proposed applications include co-packaged optics, which use photonic integrated circuits to move data between servers and network equipment.
The company says customers have validated its technology for that application, but it has not shipped a machine for co-packaged optics, TechCrunch reported. Its existing hardware revenue therefore comes from a business with deployed systems, while the data centre expansion remains a new equipment market for Morphotonics.
Morphotonics and fellow Dutch company ASML work in different areas of lithography. ASML’s machines pattern silicon wafers for chips, while Morphotonics uses nanoimprint lithography for displays and other optical components. Morphotonics says it uses many of the same suppliers as ASML.
Invest-NL senior investment manager Johan Stins said its investment would support Morphotonics’ move from technology development into broader industrial deployment. Morphotonics expects to begin shipping its next waveguide machine in early 2027, da Silva said.
