360 Capital Partners, Join Capital, Deep Ocean Capital, Levante Capital, Brembo and CDP Venture Capital SGR announce the exit from their investment in PhotonPath S.r.l., an Italian integrated photonics company, in connection with a new phase of the company’s growth.
Founded in 2019 as a spin-off from Politecnico di Milano, PhotonPath develops proprietary photonic integrated circuits, optical modules and sensing solutions for next-generation telecommunications, data centres and industrial applications.
Over the years, the company’s institutional investors have supported PhotonPath’s development from a university spin-off into an established photonics technology company, backing the development of its proprietary technology, the expansion of its product portfolio and its growing commercial presence. PhotonPath has also achieved significant technology and market milestones, including the validation of its optical networking solutions and the expansion of its manufacturing capabilities.
The investors collectively supported PhotonPath through 4 funding rounds from 2019 to 2025, for a total of €8.3 million raised.
The transaction marks a new stage in PhotonPath’s development and reflects the progress made by the company in bringing advanced integrated photonics technologies from research into commercial applications.
“PhotonPath is a tangible example of how scientific research and technology transfer can lead to the creation of companies capable of competing in global technology markets. We have supported the company throughout its growth journey, from the development of its technology to its transition from research to commercial applications. This exit opens a new chapter for PhotonPath and represents an important outcome for the investors who backed the project and, above all, for the founders and the entire team, whose relentless work has driven the company’s growth. A special thanks to Photonpath's founders and the whole team, whose relentless work made this outcome possible”, said Cesare Maifredi, Partner at 360 Capital.
“Investing in deep tech means being able to look beyond the visible horizon: recognizing the value of a technology before the market itself is ready to see it. It means having the technical expertise to assess its potential and support its journey from the laboratory to the market. This is what we at Deep Ocean Capital saw in PhotonPath: not only a technology of extraordinary scientific depth, but a project capable of turning research into a new industrial frontier. We chose to invest in them and supported them through a complex stage of their journey, recognizing the founders’ extraordinary talent from the very beginning and accompanying them with confidence every step of the way. Today, this deal confirms that our initial conviction was well founded and opens up a global perspective for PhotonPath. Italy is a widespread incubator of technological excellence: we will continue to apply the same approach to help these companies emerge and generate new industrial and entrepreneurial momentum for the country,” said Emilia Garito, President and Co-founder of Deep Ocean Capital SGR.
“PhotonPath demonstrates Italy’s ability to produce technological excellence capable of competing at the forefront of global innovation in fields such as photonics. Seeing a technology born from Italian research become part of an international group confirms the effectiveness of the path we have built through our Technology Transfer model, which supports the advancement of scientific research and accompanies deep-tech startups through the different stages of growth, all the way to market. We are proud to have supported PhotonPath on this journey from the very beginning, and we congratulate the founders and the entire team on an achievement that helps build an increasingly strong bridge between the laboratory, industry and international markets, while strengthening our country’s technological competitiveness,” said Claudia Pingue, Senior Partner and Head of Technology Transfer Funds at CDP Venture Capital.
"This successful exit belongs first and foremost to PhotonPath's founders and team, who had the vision, developed the technology and executed on what the global market wanted. It is also exactly the outcome we invest for at Levante: backing top European industrial technology companies built to enter global value chains, not to remain local champions. And this acquisition proves the point. For our investors, it means capital returned, the kind of result they backed us to deliver," said Francesco Lorenzini, General Partner at Levante Capital
Jan Borgstädt, Founding Partner of Join Capital, said: “PhotonPath is a success story for Italian deep tech, demonstrating how research born at Politecnico di Milano can evolve into technology that matters to global industry. The team has tackled a critical challenge: moving more data while reducing the energy consumption, space and costs required by AI and cloud infrastructure. This successful exit gives that work a platform to scale much further. For Join Capital, this is a successful exit and a significant example of the potential of Italian universities to build companies of international relevance.”