French
deeptech company Cailabs has raised €57 million to accelerate its
industrial expansion and global growth. The
round of structured financing, led by the European Investment Bank (EIB),
combines a €37 million financing from the EIB and a €20 million
investment from Definvest and Fonds Innovation Defense (Armed Forces
ministry and Bpifrance), NewSpace Capital, the European Innovation Council
(EIC) Fund, Starquest Capital, and CAIVE.
Cailabs
is a deeptech photonics company founded in 2013, operating in France and the
United States. Leveraging expertise in photonics and systems engineering, it
designs and manufactures laser-light solutions for the space,
telecommunications, industrial, and defence markets.
Its
portfolio includes turnkey optical ground stations that use atmospheric
turbulence compensation to enable high-throughput, low-latency links across
space and terrestrial networks, with a focus on precise light control to
deliver faster, safer, and more reliable performance.
Commenting
on the strategic importance of Cailabs’ work and the rationale for the
investment, Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank,
noted that space technologies are increasingly vital for civilian, security,
and defense applications:
As the bank of the
European Union, the EIB supports Cailabs’ investments in manufacturing
capabilities and in research & development of its laser communication
technologies.
Fayolle
added that the project fully aligns with the EIB’s strategic priorities in
security and defence, as well as technological innovation, under its TechEU programme.
Securing
this structured financing signals Cailabs’ growing commercial maturity,
supported by a backlog of more than ten optical ground stations already under
contract.
The
funds will accelerate manufacturing scale-up and strengthen the supply chain. A
new industrial platform, capable of assembling and validating five stations in
parallel, will support the goal of producing up to 50 OGS annually by 2027.
The
financing will also support international expansion and
advance the product portfolio with turnkey 100+ Gbps solutions, transportable
optical ground stations, and expanded orbit coverage.
This funding round
reflects our solid fundamentals and the confidence investors have in our
strategic vision. It enables us to scale up industrial capabilities and prepare
for the next stage of growth,
concluded
Jean-Francois Morizur, co-founder and CEO of Cailabs.
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