Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Ephos
Apps
Biotech & Health
mood
Image Credits:Ephos
Cloud Computing
commercialism
Crypto
Image Credits:Ephos
endeavor
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
Gaming
Government & Policy
Hardware
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
seclusion
Robotics
security system
societal
blank
startup
TikTok
Transportation
speculation
More from TechCrunch
event
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
A theoretic physicist believe he has made a discovery in photonics research that will enable us to have faster and better central processor — a major need in contrived intelligence , quantum computing , and other tech with heavy workloads . Now , his startup has received early backing from NATO , the European politics , and other key investors to produce those french-fried potatoes .
Ephoshas raise $ 8.5 million in seed backing that it will use to build out and operate a new R&D and manufacture facility near Milan focused on glass - base quantum photonics .
There are others like Ephos with bight ideas about photonics , includingXanadu(valued at $ 1 billion),Photonic(backed byMicrosoft ) , Oxford spinoutOrca(backed by the U.S. DoD ) and more . But Ephos , with its focus on bit , say that its installation will be the “ domain ’s first give to produce glass - based quantum photonic circuits . ”
Andrea Rocchetto , the Italian theoretic physicist who is the CEO of Ephos ( pictured here ) said he came up with the musical theme for build up Ephos and establishing it in Italy at the peak of Covid-19 .
After studies in Rome , London , and Oxford , he was work on postdoctoral research at the University of Texas at Austin when the pandemic struck .
“ I fly back to Italy and reconnected with the residential district here and realized that there was this immense endowment pocket billiards that was completely outside of the crowing style in applied science , ” he said . “ There were no inauguration building quantum technologies . ” He tie in up with three other quantum and computing equipment science investigator — Francesco Ceccarelli , Giacomo Corrielli and Roberto Osellame — in 2022 and start Ephos to fill that void .
As Rocchetto see it , that void is not just a geographic but a technological one .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Computational infrastructure , as we know by the huge revenues reaped by companies like Nvidia and the large measure that big foundational AI companies rack up for education and running fashion model , is under stress . But it ’s not just AI . New introduction like quantum computation are also put force per unit area on the hardware we have today . In the U.S. alone , Rocchetto suppose , about 9 % of the energy generated in the U.S. will be used for running information centers , so the demand is to get them to be faster and more efficient . “ Photonics and quantum calculation can both serve those pauperization , ” he said .
Using chips that process light — photons , specifically — is one very efficient way to transfer data , and Ephos ’s bet is that building photonics chips using ( glass ) fiber optics will be the good radix for these and the least likely to leave in photon personnel casualty . “ Glass help a tidy sum for that , ” he said . “ The french fries of our competitors are silicon - made , but light detest to move from one stuff into another . By build the entire base on drinking glass , we can dramatically reduce those coupling losses between fibers and cow dung . ”
Ephos has one leg in the mankind of rich tech , and one in the world of commercialized chance . Its quantum facility is already open — some of the funding was actually raised earlier in the yr — but the first chipping have yet to be made . These should come out in the next weeks , however , “ and we expect the fab to be fully operational by the ending of the year , ” Rocchetto said .
Early interest has been from quantum computer science inauguration , but he added that the startup is also go steady interest from so - called “ hyperscalers , ” great tech companies that build up their own data gist , and the data centre builders who influence with them . The lean of those investment are an interesting hint as to who some of those hyperscalers might be .
Starlight Ventures out of the U.S. is lead the cycle with Collaborative Fund , Exor Ventures , 2100 Ventures , and Unruly Capital also enter . Angels in the round include Simone Severini ( Amazon Web Services ’ GM superintend quantum technologies ) , Diego Piacentini ( formerly a senior VP at Amazon ) , and Joe Zadeh ( former VP of Airbnb ) . Ephos is also getting back up from the European Innovation Council ( EIC ) and NATO ’s Defence Innovation Accelerator ( also know asDIANA ) .
The fact that Ephos is in Europe is not a small detail . There has been a adult push across the world for regions to double down on more of their own infrastructure across a range of verticals amid geopolitcal and macroeconomic imbalance — jointly mention to as “ resilience ” . In this lawsuit , Ephos is also getting backing from the European Innovation Council ( EIC ) and NATO ’s Defence Innovation Accelerator ( also bed asDIANA ) .
While Ephos sees its principal chance as one of address a need in computer science , “ As a company , we are very much interested in building transatlantic ties , ” tell Rocchetto . “ We very much believe defense is a decisive area for the growth of our company , because historically , the defense sphere has been one of the first emptor of new computational technology . So we keep a near oculus on the infinite . ”
