Twelve companies selected for funding sessions at Invest in Photonics

Bordeaux, France--Twelve emerging photonics companies from Europe and North America have been chosen to participate in funding opportunities at the Invest in Photonics International Partnering Convention 2010, to be held March 18 and 19. The selection is the culmination of a two-month screening process led by a panel of photonics-industry experts and venture capitalists.

Invest in Photonics is an investment-networking and market-development event that helps entrepreneurs and management in photonics companies meet up with investors and analysts. Twelve out of twenty-four applicants made the final selection, based on the following criteria:

1. Relevance of the company's business to the field of photonics
2. Size and growth potential of the company's potential market
3. Novelty of the application or product
4. Competitive advantages of the application or product
5. Viability of the business model
6. Consistency between a five-year business plan and the funding requested
7. Management strength

During the convention's three "Business Time" sessions, these seed, expansion, and later-stage small and medium-sized companies will meet investors and seek potential funding in the region of EUR 30 million (about USD 40.5 million). The median seed-capital investment sought per company is less than EUR 2.5 million.

The selected companies come from Belgium, Canada, Germany, The Netherlands, and France. They are pursuing applications in the optical-transport (communications), laser materials-processing, medical, imaging, metrology, and intelligent-lighting areas. The entrepreneurs and management of photonics companies who attend Invest in Photonics will be able to set up one-to-one meetings with investors at the conference.

According to a 2009 report from the Commission of the European Communities, the area of photonics is high on the agenda of the European Union, as there are about 5,000 photonics manufacturers in Europe employing around 290,000 people, while more than two million other workers in the EU depend directly on photonics products.

The origin of Invest in Photonics
Invest in Photonics was created in 2008 by the ALPhA technology cluster (Aquitaine Laser Photonique et Applications), CEA (French Atomic Energy Commission, which is the largest government-funded technological research organization in France), and the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce.

Several international organizations actively support Invest in Photonics, in particular EPIC (the European Photonics Industry Consortium), Photonics21 (an association of industrial enterprises and other stakeholders in the field of photonics in Europe), AFOP (a French optics and photonics association), CNOP (the French national committee in optics and photonics), the UK Photonics Knowledge and Technology Network (KTN), Optec-Net in Germany, the Photonics Cluster Netherlands (PCN), Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques (ICFO) in Spain, and the Réseau Photonique du Québec, Canada. Invest in Photonics also receives financial support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

For more information, visit http://www.invest-in-photonics.com/