Japan-based semiconductor laser developer QD Laser has raised ¥3.66bn ($32.9m) in funding from a consortium that included several corporate investors, VentureTimes reported on Tuesday.
Insurance providers Axa Life Insurance and Dai-ichi Life Insurance took part, as did sales financing provider Tokyo Century and DG Incubation and NTT Docomo Ventures, subsidiaries of internet company Digital Garage and mobile network operator NTT Docomo respectively.
MTG Ventures, the corporate venturing division of cosmetics and medical devices supplier MTG, also invested, along with Nikon-SBI Innovation Fund, a joint venture formed by optical products company Nikon and SBI Investment, a venture capital vehicle for financial services firm SBI Holdings.
The round included Intage Open Innovation Fund, established by marketing research firm Intage and SBI Investment; SBI Phoenix No. 1 Investment Business Limited Partnership, managed by SBI Holdings; and corporate-backed investment partnership Mirai Creation Investment.
Oita Venture Capital, the VC arm of financial services provider Oita Bank, also participated, as did UTokyo Innovation Platform, an investment vehicle focused on the University of Tokyo’s ecosystem, Yume Habataki No 1 Fund, Beyond Next Ventures, Reed Capital Management, Resona Capital, Yamaguchi Capital and Toki Meki Support No 1 Fund.
The round additionally featured two undisclosed corporate investors and two unnamed directors of QD Laser.
QD Laser was founded in 2006 as a spinout of Fujitsu Laboratories, the research and development arm of IT equipment producer Fujitsu, following a collaboration with Mitsuri Sugawara, a professor in University of Tokyo’s Institute of Industrial Science.
The company manufactures high-performance semiconductor lasers, such as quantum dot lasers that have applications in sectors such as medicine, telecommunications and display technologies.
The funding will enable QD Laser to further develop and seek a medical device certification for its Visirium technology product, which projects digital images directly on to a patient’s retina using a laser.
QD Laser received an undisclosed amount of funding from Fujitsu and conglomerate Mitsui when it launched in 2006, before raising $8m from undisclosed new and existing shareholders in 2010.
