Oxford, UK. (February 15, 2023) – Archangel Lightworks, a laser communications company reimagining the future of connectivity, has successfully closed £4 million of Seed capital in a round led by Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), with participation from Silicon Roundabout Ventures.
Archangel Lightworks is building high-volume, secure, wireless technology to create the space-enabled networks of the future. Today, space and terrestrial networks are not well-connected leading to insecure, insufficient, and vulnerable infrastructure. Nearly 3 billion people are unconnected and many more are under-connected. Archangel Lightworks is driving down the size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C) of optical ground equipment to make resilient space-ground laser communication (lasercom) available and affordable.
Archangel Lightworks was founded in 2017 and is led by CEO Richard Johanson, CTO Owain Pryce-Jones, and Director Dan Sola. Archangel Lightworks’ laser technology has been developed with support from an expansive set of partners including the UK Space Agency, the European Space Agency, Catalyst Campus, Harwell Campus and Starburst Accelerator.
The £4 million raise will expand the team and fund a series of space-ground demonstrations of the TERRA-M, a miniature optical ground station that adds extra network capacity to deliver resilient and secure wireless connectivity where it is most needed.
The TERRA-M miniature optical ground station on a data centre
Richard Johanson, CEO of Archangel Lightworks, says “The team and I are thrilled to be making this announcement and could not be more excited to partner with Oxford Science Enterprises as we work to reimagine space connectivity! This investment round will allow us to grow our team, demonstrate our technology, and engage additional partners looking to solve today’s biggest connectivity challenges. Please get in touch with us if you’re interested in working towards a more connected future!”
Sam Harman of Oxford Science Enterprises, says “With the uses and volume of Space data continuing to multiply, insufficient bandwidth, security and coverage of Space-Ground connectivity are now major challenges. The Archangel Lightworks team are developing a fundamentally new class of laser communication infrastructure, built specifically to unlock step-changes in the bandwidth, security and coverage of data that moves between Space and Earth. We’re incredibly excited to be joining them on the journey.”
Francesco Perticarari of Silicon Roundabout Ventures says “What if you could rewind time and build or invest in the pioneers that laid out the internet routing pipework? Pioneers like Cisco, Juniper Networks and UUNET shaped the world of technology by enabling data to flow across the planet for the first time. I believe Archangel has the same disruptive potential by enabling an entire new way of moving data across space and between space and earth. If successful, this team can help usher an entire new kind of telecom infrastructure.”
The Catalyst Accelerator team says “We are very proud of the traction that Archangel Lightworks has been able to gain since their time in the Accelerator. The company was diligent in their application of everything they learned in the program, and it has truly paid off! We are so excited to see what else they will accomplish in the future.”
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We are looking for partners to demonstrate our optical ground terminal technology. If you have a mission and need high-volume secure connectivity, please get in touch here.
For press enquiries, please contact marketing@archangel.works.
ABOUT ARCHANGEL LIGHTWORKS
Archangel Lightworks is a laser communications company building high-volume, secure, wireless technology to create the space-enabled networks of the future. To learn more, visit www.archangel.works | Twitter | LinkedIn
Archangel Lightworks is a client company of the UCF Business Incubation Program at the Research Park Incubator.
ABOUT OXFORD SCIENCE ENTERPRISES
Oxford Science Enterprises is an independent, billion-pound investment company, created in 2015 to found, fund and build transformational businesses via its unique partnership with the University of Oxford, the world’s #1 research university. OSE adopts a flexible, long-term investment approach, recognising the path from ground-breaking research to global markets takes time and resilience. To date, OSE has invested £0.5 billion in over 80 ambitious companies built on Oxford science.
Find out more: oxfordscienceenterprises.com | Twitter | LinkedIn
ABOUT SILICON ROUNDABOUT VENTURES
Silicon Roundabout Ventures is a Deep Tech Seed fund in the UK that invests in European engineer-led startups, leveraging its community of 15,000 entrepreneurs and engineers. It aims to be a first-cheque “Super Angel” backer for companies that are building new technology infrastructure for our planet and addressing large-scale global challenges: from climate and health to the future of computing and security.
Find out more: siliconroundabout.ventures | Twitter | LinkedIn
