Verizon Ventures leads €4 Million Series A financing round in PICadvanced
05 Agosto 2020 - 2:45PM
Verizon Ventures today announced it led a €4 million ($4.5 million)
Series A financing round in PICadvanced (PICa), a developer of
cost-effective optics and photonics solutions for telecom
applications. Joining Verizon Ventures in the round is a 200M
Co-investment Fund managed by PME Investimentos, which makes
co-investments in high-growth Portuguese startups.
Founded in 2014 and based in Ílhavo, Portugal, PICa
has been active in the development of optoelectronic transceivers
for a new telecommunications network standard called NG-PON2
(Next-Generation Passive Optical Network 2). Leveraging its
expertise, the company aims to provide innovative solutions for the
Passive Optical Network (PON) market. It has solved many complex
problems through optics, from design and development to packaging
and testing that are used in the electrotechnology,
telecommunications, and biomedicine industries.
“PICa works to identify new optics solutions for
many industries — like telecommunications,” said Antonio Teixeira,
co-founder of PICa. “We’re excited to work with the team at Verizon
Ventures to solve for next-generation optical access - and learn
from the experts on Verizon’s network team.”
NG-PON2’s advantage is said to increase the
capacity of the network and deliver more bandwidth at a lower cost
per bit. PICa is also pioneering the design of Photonic Integrated
Circuits (PICs), which will significantly reduce the cost of
producing optical modules and break most of the bottleneck created
by conventional optic devices.
In 2018, Verizon announced it began testing NG-PON2
technology, the newest standard for Passive Optical Networks (fiber
networks that don’t require active amplification due to signal
loss). By working with PICa, Verizon will be able to deliver more
bandwidth at a lower cost per bit, which could be used to support
business services and wireless backhaul on the same fiber as
residential services. The advantage PICa technology brings to
NG-PON2 networks includes fast tunable lasers that enable up to
four 10 Gbps bidirectional wavelength channels. Continued
innovation of these technologies could lower the unit cost and
enable the development of enhanced new products for 5G small cell
deployments.
"Verizon sees a tremendous amount of potential in
the way NG-PON2 can improve its optical access network and deliver
greater bandwidth to the end-user,” said Glenn Wellbrock, director
of optical transport network architecture, design and planning at
Verizon. “PICa’s team has exceptional optical talent and we look
forward to watching the company grow.”
Next-generation network standards, including
NG-PON2, are forecast to reach over $2 billion in total market size
in 2024, up from ~$250 million in 2019, driven by a need for more
capacity and service flexibility for 5G. As a leading innovator in
this growing market, PICa has become an optical vendor that is
fully NG-PON2 standard compliant and in production. PICa’s product
roadmap includes other next-generation standards that will also
benefit from cutting edge innovation.
"PICa is pioneering disruptive network
technologies, and Verizon Ventures is excited to invest in the
potential of solution-oriented optics for telecommunications
applications,” said Samy Ben Aissa, managing director at Verizon
Ventures. “The technology is modern and limitless — it can be
applied to various network standards, allowing performance and
lower cost for delivering broadband network access to
endcustomers.”
The 200M Fund’s mission is to enable Portuguese
technological companies to more effectively attract reference
international investors like Verizon.
PICa has been awarded recognition on the Top 25
Portuguese Emerging Scaleups list in both 2018 and 2019. For more
information, please visit the company’s website here.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) was formed on
June 30, 2000 and is celebrating its 20th year as one of the
world’s leading providers of technology, communications,
information and entertainment products and services. Headquartered
in New York City and with a presence around the world, Verizon
generated revenues of $131.9 billion in 2019. The company offers
data, video and voice services and solutions on its award winning
networks and platforms, delivering on customers’ demand for
mobility, reliable network connectivity, security and control.
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Media contact: Kim
AncinKimberly.Ancin@verizon.com908-559-3227
Eric WilkensEric.wilkens@verizon.com201.572.9317@ericwilkens
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