Leeds, UK, 22nd January 2026: Optalysys, the photonic computing company, has raised £23 million in a Series A extension round led by Northern Gritstone with participation from imec.xpand, Lingotto Horizon, and the UK government’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF). The investment will be used to accelerate the commercialisation of Optalysys’ proprietary photonic chips and support expansion into the US.

As AI and cloud workloads continue to grow exponentially, conventional electronic computing is reaching its physical limits. Optalysys’ unique approach integrates data movement and processing on a single chip, combining silicon photonics with cutting-edge digital technologies to deliver immense computational power whilst reducing the carbon footprint of today’s energy-intensive digital methods.

The company is developing a programmable, high-density layer designed to run compute-intensive workloads, including  GenAI and post-quantum algorithms, forming a foundation for next-generation cloud infrastructure. One key application is fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), which allows data to be processed securely while remaining encrypted — an increasingly important capability for secure cloud and enterprise computing. Early forms of FHE technology are being used in digital form in Optalysys’ LightLocker™ Node servers launched last year — the world’s first dedicated hardware solution designed for encrypted blockchain applications.

Dr Nick New, CEO and Co-Founder of Optalysys, said: “We are at a defining moment in the evolution of computing. Photonic computing opens up fundamentally new capabilities, allowing data to be moved and processed with far greater speed and efficiency. This investment validates both the scale of the opportunity ahead and our ability to execute against it. It allows us to expand into new markets and take an important step towards making photonic computing a mainstream part of cloud infrastructure.”

Robert Todd, CTO and Co-Founder of Optalysys, said: “Recent acquisitions in the semiconductor industry have highlighted the role that photonics can play in addressing the limits of electronic computing, particularly in processing capability and power consumption, resulting from the demands of training and running even larger AI models. Optalysys’ approach uniquely combines data movement and compute within the same package. Expanding to the US is an exciting and natural next step for us, so that we can tap into its strong photonics ecosystem and the immense talent located in Silicon Valley.”

Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northern Gritstone, said: “Optalysys is scaling towards global success. The company is building technology for the next generation of computing and has the team, technology and commercial traction that we, as investors, want. We’re excited to support the team as they continue to commercialise their technology and deliver real-world impact across multiple industries.”

ENDS

About Optalysys

Founded in Leeds, UK, in 2013 by Dr. Nick New (CEO) and Robert Todd (CTO), Optalysys is a photonic computing company. Optalysys’ unique approach integrates data movement and processing on a single chip, combining silicon photonics with cutting-edge digital technologies to deliver immense computational power required for today’s workloads and next generation cloud infrastructure. Optalysys has built the world’s first dedicated hardware solution designed for encrypted blockchain applications — LightLocker™ Node.

About Northern Gritstone

Northern Gritstone is a venture capital firm unlocking the North of England’s innovation potential by investing in science and technology startups and university spinouts tackling global challenges. Founded in 2021, Northern Gritstone partners with the Universities of Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield to identify world-leading research and develop deeptech and life sciences companies with the potential to scale worldwide. Backed by leading institutional investors including Legal & General, M&G, Aviva, Columbia Threadneedle, Bruntwood, local authority pension funds, and the British Business Bank, Northern Gritstone has supported over 40 companies to date, with more than £380 million invested alongside co-investors.