Light Trace, a Bristol-based deep tech start-up, has raised £600,000 in a seed round led by QantX Ventures. Founded by Dr Jake Biele, the company is developing LightCraft, an innovative platform that simplifies photonic chip design by offering a library of pre-tested components and subsystems, enabling faster product development in quantum, communications, and photonic processing sectors.
The platform builds on Light Trace's LightPort evaluation board, used for rapid prototyping, to provide a complete ecosystem for photonic innovation. Early adopters highlight its potential to cut costs and speed up time-to-market for integrated photonic solutions.
The funds will accelerate the development of LightCraft, enhance its library of components, and support customer onboarding, positioning Light Trace as a key enabler in the rapidly advancing photonic integrated circuit (PIC) sector.
Dr Harry Alexander of QantX Ventures lauded the potential of the platform, describing photonics as a transformative industry and highlighting Light Trace's role in enabling a paradigm shift in PIC development.
