Metasurface Optics Manufacturer NAJING Secures Tens of Millions in Pre-A Round Financing

Technology Author: EqualOcean News, Jiahui Liao Editor: Jiaqi Li May 11, 2024 04:30 PM (GMT+8)

NAJING Technology commits to continuous R&D for products across various scenarios.

Ketai optical core

On May 9th, Hangzhou NAJING Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "NAJING Technology") announced the completion of a tens of millions Pre-A round financing. The round was led by the China Internet Investment Fund and Zhejiang Fresscon Capital Co., Ltd., with Baida Group as a follow-on investor. The funds raised will primarily be used for product development and the construction of mass production capabilities.

Established in 2020, NAJING Technology is a technology company specializing in the design and manufacturing of metasurface optical devices. The company combines metasurface optics with semiconductor processes to provide the optical industry with a new generation of lightweight, thin, and efficient optical components. Current products mainly include meta-lenses and spectrometers, which are applied in fields such as robotics, smartphones, XR (Extended Reality), autonomous driving, and security surveillance.

Gong Yongxing, CEO of NAJING Technology, introduced that, taking meta-lenses as an example, the upgrade of consumer electronics has raised higher requirements for product weight, thickness, flatness, efficiency, and temperature drift. Meta-lenses are lenses developed based on metasurface technology, utilizing micro-nano processes and medium materials. They have disrupted the complex lens groups in traditional optical devices, achieving the functionality of lenses that were originally several millimeters or even centimeters thick with a thickness of only a few micrometers. Additionally, they integrate the functions of multiple optical components, significantly reducing the volume and weight of imaging systems and simplifying the structure while optimizing performance. Compared to traditional spectrometers, metasurface spectrometers have the advantages of extremely small size, very low cost, and small inter-device differences, which can be widely applied in fields such as mobile phones, environmental protection, and robotic sensing.

Currently, NAJING Technology's meta-lens products mainly include imaging, DOE (Diffractive Optical Element), and beam shaping products, targeting applications in robotics, smartphones, and XR. The company has disclosed that its meta-lens-related products have received orders and are in the sample testing phase, with mass production expected to be achieved in the second quarter; miniaturized spectrometer products are expected to reach mass production next year.

The application of miniaturized spectrometers in smartphones means that consumers can perform simple measurements and detections in their daily lives using their phones, such as testing whether the ingredients of food and medicine are safe, checking skin conditions, determining the composition of food, and assessing environmental pollution, among others.

In addition, NAJING Technology has provided design solutions for a large number of customers, accumulating a wealth of microstructure design data to support the design of optical devices. The company now possesses technologies for large field-of-view diffractive device design, near-infrared achromatic design, and multi-band imaging spectrometer design solutions.

The NAJING Technology team currently consists of more than 40 people, with R&D personnel accounting for 75%. The core founding team comes from research institutions such as Zhejiang University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with an average of over 10 years of experience in the design and preparation of micro-nano photonic devices and optical chips. Founder Lin Hongtao is a postdoctoral fellow from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, focusing on product strategy, design, and process integration. Chief Scientist Ma Yaoguang has conducted postdoctoral research at Peking University, the University of California, and the University of Colorado. CEO Gong Yongxing has served as the deputy general manager of a listed company and has extensive experience in operational management and strategic design.

Gong Yongxing stated that NAJING Technology currently has several products under development for different scenarios, and the wavelength range of meta-lenses will also expand from the current near-infrared to visible light in the future. The company has now initiated a new round of financing, with the funds planned to be used for product research and development and production capacity construction.