Why We Invested in 2D Photonics: The Graphene Edge in Optical Communication
At Join Capital, our thesis has never been more clear: we invest in the technologies that build strategic strongholds, solve real problems, and are built to lead, scale, and endure. 2D Photonics, which owns CamGraPhiC in full, embodies this vision. 2D Photonics was established in 2024 and is pioneering the future of optical telecommunications with graphene — a revolutionary material — to redefine what is possible with photonic technologies.
The cornerstone of 2D Photonics’s innovation is their optical transceivers. These electro-optic devices play a critical role in the communication networks of today, converting electrical signals into light pulses that are propagated through fibre optics and return. With the world’s boundless data hunger racing ever higher, fueled by data centres, artificial intelligence workloads, and high-performance computing, the constraints of traditional silicon-based solutions have become increasingly evident. The intrinsic properties of silicon impose limits on speed, area, power consumption, and integration levels, limiting future scalability and efficiency.
The €25M Series A funding, where we co-led with the NATO Innovation Fund, Sony Innovation Fund, and CDP Venture Capital, and was joined by support from Bosch Ventures, Frontier IP, and Indaco, will support expanded R&D efforts in Pisa and development of a pilot manufacturing line in Milan. The company expects commercial deployments in two to three years.
2D Photonics’ innovative solution consists of graphene, a one-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms, bonded in hexagonal lattice configuration. Graphene is a material with exceptional properties: ultra-high electron mobility, thermal stability and exceptional integrability. Unlike silicon, graphene has no bandgap, so electrons can roam and move freely and much faster. That implies very rapid, much more effective processing with very little latency. That yields a much higher data rate of transmission, with much reduced power consumption, which until now was a contradictory set of characteristics.
Aside from technical beauty, the practicality of the technology of 2D Photonics makes it particularly appealing. With its use of graphene, 2D Photonics boosts bandwidth density significantly, reduces latency, and maximizes portability. Its transceivers have the capability to surpass the 10Tbps bar with the speed of graphene and its native optical characteristics suitable for a very wide range of wavelengths.
These are numbers that can seriously transform data centers and telecommunication networks. Apart from that, graphene-based devices can operate best without needing to be cooled to a great extent, reducing the cost of deployment and operation.
JOIN was drawn to 2D Photonics by both the technology and the richness and depth of experience of its first-class leadership team, CEO Ben Jensen and co-founders Andrea Ferrari and Marco Romagnoli, who’s also CSO.
“Silicon photonics today is performing amazingly, but it has a finite future because you can only go so far with it,” CEO Ben Jensen told Sifted, which is part of the Financial Times group. “Given the rapid rise in data consumption for AI, and the rapid rise in data consumption for 5G and 6G, the existing incumbent material is being stretched severely.” This necessitates “more and more complicated architectures to get more and more data through.”
Strategically, 2D Photonics aligns with our investment thesis. Optical telecommunications is a backbone of infrastructure of the utmost importance to industries like data centres, 5G and 6G telecoms, automotive systems, avionics, and space applications. All these industries require greater efficiency, dependability, and performance. These are needs the conventional silicon technologies are now unable to meet as well. 2D Photonics’s graphene platform answers explicitly to such mounting industry demands, making it an attractive and timely investment.
The market potential of 2D Photonics is enormous. Data centre managers face tremendous pressure to handle exponentially increasing data volumes at ever-decreasing latencies and costs. Telecommunications operators face similar pressures, especially as 5G deployments expand globally. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) in automotive markets rely on high-speed, fault-free data transfer to ensure safety and performance. Space and avionics markets require robust and efficient communication platforms to handle mission-critical functions without failure.
By addressing those most acute pain points of these industries, 2D Photonics is poised to be a dominant player in next-generation photonics technology. Its work in graphene photonics not only pushes the technical state of the art forward but also opens the way to broad commercial adoption and disruption of industries.
