Anello Photonics completes $28m series A funding

Anello Photonics, developer of the Silicon Photonic Optical Gyroscope (SiPhOGTM), announced today that it has completed a Series A funding round raising $28M to accelerate the development of its unique and patented integrated photonic sensor technology. The Series A funding was led by New Legacy Ventures and included investments from Lockheed Martin Ventures, Catapult Ventures, JS Capital, Hardware Club, and individual investments from several Silicon Valley luminaries.

The novel SiPhOG replaces the discrete optical components of a traditional Fiber Optic Gyroscope (FOG) and combines high precision with greatly reduced size, weight, power and cost. The technology combines an Anello-developed on-chip waveguide manufacturing process integrated with a patented silicon photonic chip-scale gyroscope. Together, these enable FOG performance using scalable silicon manufacturing processes. This breakthrough sensor technology has applications across a range of markets including Automotive, Trucking, Construction, Drone, Aerospace, Defense and Consumer Electronics.   

"With the development of the SiPhOG we are going to change the navigation industry," says Mario Paniccia, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Anello. "We are bringing all the benefits of optical gyro performance onto an integrated silicon photonic circuit platform."

Anello's first generation sensor is targeted at safety-critical navigation applications for Autonomous Vehicles and Aerospace. It provides the proven low-noise and low-drift qualities of traditional optical gyroscopes at a production-friendly size, cost, and power needed for a variety of applications.

"By providing an independent and accurate ground truth of vehicle position, Anello's sensor and IMU system improves the reliability of Autonomous Vehicle localisation while reducing the vulnerability to cyber-security threats and environmental interference common to other localization sensors," says Mike Horton, Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of Anello.

"We are delighted to be part of the Anello team and excited to help bring this breakthrough integrated sensor technology to the Navigation and Consumer markets," says Alex Wong, Board Partner of New Legacy Ventures.

"The promise of accurate and survivable inertial navigation in a compact, low-cost, low power form factor is attractive to Lockheed Martin and the systems we make. We are excited to have invested in Anello to help realize this capability," says Chris Moran, VP/GM Lockheed Martin Ventures.

Anello is currently engaged in trials with market-leading customers in the Automotive, Trucking, Aerospace and National Security markets.