Raysea completed 100 million level financing by developing high-performance production VCSEL chip

Time:2018-08-16

Raysea got PreA round financing from Fortune Capital and TianJin venture Capital in August 2018. Sunny V fund finaced Raysea in September 2017. The two rounds of financing total 100 million, mainly used for mass production of VCSEL chips.

VCSEL, is short for Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser, made by substrate of GaAs semiconductor material. VCSEL has advantages such as smaller volume 、 circular output 、single longitudinal mode output 、smaller threshold current 、low price and easy to assemble into large area array ,distinct from other other light sources such as LED and LD。

With the release of iPhone X in 2017, faceID became popular rapidly。 VCSEL, which is not well known by the general public, has attracted attention。On other hand,after the iPhone x, other smart phone brands have followed up and started to integrate 3D sensing technology,such as XiaoMi,Oppo and MI 8 launched by Huawei in 2018.

Besides, IOT, especially the rapid development of involving 3D sensing products, may also provide new markets.

Driven by rapid popularization and growing market demand, YoleDéveloppement points out that, VCSEL will continue to grow explosively in the next five years, Its business opportunities will grow more than 10 times. CAGR will reach 31% from 2017 to 2023, The market size is expected to rise from 652 million in 2017 to 3.3 billion in 2023.

By the increasing demand of VCSEL , a new wave of investment and M & A has emerged in the market. Business unit manager of YoleSSL and Display ParsMukish points out, this trend is likely to lead to the rapid development of VCSEL industry in the form of investment, new entrants and mergers and acquisitions in the next few years。

At present, there are two main application scenarios of VCSEL, optical communication system and 3D imaging module. Raysea technology chooses 3D imaging module of consumer electronics in the early stage。According to analysis, the market of mobile 3D imaging module has limited time window for VCSEL manufacturers,mass shipment will be needed next year intra-industry.It is a good breakthrough point to cut in this direction ; besides the industrial chain of data communication industry is relatively stable and closed, the certification cycle is relatively long, which takes 1 to 1.5 years.

Raysea technology was founded in 2017 by a group of experts and doctors who study in the United States and have many years of rich experience in the world’s top 500 enterprises. Raysea’s  R & D centers is located in the United States, and the basement of processing, testing and R & D is in Yuyao, Zhejiang and Hangzhou.

Raysea focuses on the R & D and mass production of VCSEL chips and derivatives ,and completed the third generation of chips suitable for mobile phones and other consumer electronics, reaching the level of major international manufacturers, and become the only domestic VCSEL chip supplier recommended by Sunny optics. At this stage, we are negotiating cooperation intention with mobile phone manufacturers.

At the same time, the company is developing a 4 × 25gbps (100gbps) VCSEL chip for data center and 5g communication. It is expected to achieve sample delivery and mass production in 2019. At present, Raysea is in contact with Hisense, xuchuang, Ali and other manufacturers.

It is worth mentioning that, the number of substitute factories of group III-V materials with VCSEL chip manufacturing capacity in the world is not much, only Avago, Sumitomo Electric, Finisar, lumentum, AMS, Ⅱ – Ⅵ can mass produce VCSEL globally. There has been a lack of high-end VCSEL products in China, an important reason is the high-tech threshold

Reasay is known to use a 6-inch chip that is more cost-effective and more suitable for the use of consumer electronics. At present, there are only two mainstream manufacturers with high-quality production capacity, and Reasy has reached cooperation with them.