
MetaVC Partners in the US has raised $62 million for a fund that will invest in early-stage metamaterials startups.
Metamaterials are an increasingly important type of manufactured material engineered to control and manipulate energy such as radio waves, light, and sound. The materials are built from arrays of structures whose size and spacing can be finer than the wavelength of visible light with properties not found in naturally occurring materials.
Metamaterials are already being deployed commercially to produce high-performance and energy-efficient products in computing, imaging, wireless communications, and sensors and are a key research area for next generation 6G wireless networks.
MetaVC has already invested in metamaterials startups Lumotive, Imagia and Neurophos and investors in the new fund include Corning, Gates Frontier and JSR along with other family wealth offices and institutional pension funds.
- Shapeshifting Electronics
- Beam-steering startup raises $13 million for market push
- Metasurface lidar reference design targets industrial designs
Neurophos is building high-performance optical AI processors that will be over one hundred times faster and more energy-efficient than today’s state-of-the-art AI computer processors, while Imagia uses metamaterials to produce flat-optical lens technologies used in AR/VR headsets and other consumer electronics products. Lumotive has developed scanning sensors for anti-collision systems and consumer electronics applications.
“We’re delighted to help support innovation advancements in the exciting new area of metamaterials through our recent venture capital investment,” said Marty Curran, executive vice president and chief innovation officer at Corning Incorporated. “Corning’s capabilities and optimized precision glass products complement MetaVC’s investment opportunities related to breakthrough products in consumer electronics, 5G communications, automotive, and clean energy.”
- European standards group for 6G metamaterial antenna
- Metamaterial for 6G mmwave beam-steering antenna
“We are excited to continue to partner with founders building highly disruptive hard-tech product startups that are changing the pace of computing power, how we embed smart sensors in anti-collision systems, and how we communicate using satellites,” said MetaVC co-founders and managing partners, Chris Alliegro and Conrad Burke.
“We continue to be on the lookout to recruit the brightest founders to help form the next great companies and products,” they said.
Other metamaterials articles
- Acoustic metamaterial can focus sound like a lens
- Metamaterials offer potential in mmWave 5G and beyond
- Metamaterial opens up solar cell designs
- Metamaterial creates flat fisheye lens
