Latest news with #PlaygroundGlobal
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
xLight Raises $40 Million Series B to Revolutionize Semiconductor Manufacturing
Funding enables prototype development of next generation light source for advanced semiconductor manufacturing PALO ALTO, Calif., July 22, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--xLight, the American company building the world's most powerful lasers, today announced it has closed an oversubscribed $40M Series B equity raise. The round was led by Playground Global, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs who have developed breakthroughs in frontier technologies, and joined by Boardman Bay Capital Management, a leading investment manager specializing in high-growth opportunities across transformative technology subsectors. Morpheus Ventures and others also joined the round. This funding further enables xLight to develop the world's most powerful extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) free electron lasers (FEL), which will revolutionize advanced semiconductor manufacturing and unlock other critical economic and national security applications. "xLight is on a mission to build a transformational new light source for semiconductor manufacturing that addresses the key challenges facing the industry today – cost, capabilities, and capacity. This round will equip the company with the capital needed to complete detailed design and kickstart construction of our full-scale prototype," said Nicholas Kelez, CEO and CTO of xLight. "Advanced semiconductor manufacturing is approaching a key inflection point – together with our partners across the National Lab and semiconductor ecosystem, and with the support of our investors, we will commercialize free electron lasers and help reclaim American leadership in semiconductor manufacturing." "xLight represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore American leadership in one of the most critical technologies underpinning the semiconductor industry," said Pat Gelsinger, Executive Chairman of the Board, xLight and General Partner, Playground Global. "By delivering an energy‑efficient EUV laser with tenfold improvements over existing technologies, xLight has the potential to drive the next era of Moore's Law – keeping chip scaling alive, accelerating fab productivity, and anchoring this foundational capability in the U.S. supply chain." "xLight's breakthrough technology delivers a real edge for next-generation semiconductor manufacturing," said Peter Barrett, General Partner and co-founder at Playground Global. "With AI driving unprecedented demand for more powerful and complex chips, the industry needs a step change in productivity. By applying proven accelerator physics in a novel way, xLight's EUV FEL platform has the potential to enable not just more efficient production, but entirely new kinds of devices. It's a bold leap forward, and one that will help reignite Moore's Law." "We believe the semiconductor manufacturing industry is on the precipice of the next major dislocation and xLight is perfectly positioned to capitalize on that shift," said Will Graves, Chief Investment Officer, Boardman Bay Capital Management. "The company's platform has the potential to reshape how fabs think about light, manufacturing capabilities, and scalability. We're proud to partner with a team pushing the boundaries of what's possible in advanced laser light sources." "xLight represents exactly the kind of transformative technology we seek at Morpheus Ventures—a company that's not just disrupting its market, but fundamentally redefining what's possible," said Howard Ko, Partner, Morpheus Ventures. "The company's deeply experienced team, coupled with the incredible technology they've developed under Nicholas' leadership, uniquely position the company for hypergrowth in the years to come, and we're thrilled to be one of their partners." The company continues to execute against its business goals, as evidenced by the ongoing partnerships with the Cornell Laboratory for Accelerator-based ScienceS and Education (CLASSE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, three globally recognized, leading research facilities. In the last two years, the company has completed key systems designs, including subsystem prototyping and first articles, and established a working relationship with technical leaders at ASML. xLight's work with CLASSE focuses primarily on research and development, with the ultimate goal of commercializing technologies developed by Cornell's BNL ERL Test Accelerator (CBETA). The joint venture with LANL, funded by New Mexico's TRGR Technology Readiness Initiative, is focused on the application of modern machine learning techniques to enable the automation of a large-scale accelerator. Large-scale accelerators like those under cooperative development at LANL are an integral component of xLight's technical roadmap. The company's collaboration with Fermilab is focused on superconducting radio frequency cavity and cryomodule development and testing – two particle accelerator technologies that the lab mastered over decades. About xLight xLight was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA. The company's mission is to commercialize particle accelerator driven free electron lasers (FEL) for critical US economic and national security applications. xLight is led by a group of deeply experienced technologists and semiconductor industry veterans with a long track record of building complex technical systems. Our team has decades of experience designing, building, and deploying free electron lasers across a wide range of applications, from research and development to national security missions. Learn more at About Playground Global Playground Global is a deep tech venture capital firm with $1.2 billion under management, backing early-stage startups solving foundational challenges in next-generation compute, automation, energy transition, and engineered biology. Founded in 2015 and based in Palo Alto, Playground partners closely with technical and scientific founders to turn breakthrough ideas into lasting companies. The firm's portfolio includes PsiQuantum, MosaicML (acquired by Databricks), d-Matrix, Agility Robotics, Ideon, Ultima Genomics, Strand Therapeutics, and xLight. Learn more at About Boardman Bay Capital Management Boardman Bay is a venture capital and technology investment firm focused on backing the next generation of hard tech and semiconductor innovators. With a track record of supporting companies at the forefront of AI infrastructure, optical and photonic systems, chip design, and data movement, Boardman Bay has been an early investor in transformative platforms including Ayar Labs, Groq, xLight, and Credo (NASDAQ: CRDO). The firm operates a family of specialized venture funds that provide strategic, concentrated exposure to the core technologies reshaping global compute and connectivity. Founded in 2012, Boardman Bay combines deep domain expertise with a disciplined investment approach—across public and private portfolios—to help build enduring, category-defining businesses. Learn more at About Morpheus Ventures Founded in 2016, Morpheus Ventures is one of the largest early-stage investors in Los Angeles, and is investing in the disruption of large markets across the technology landscape from consumer to enterprise technologies including data-powered platforms, high performance compute platforms, AI, machine learning and enterprise SaaS. The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles and backs great entrepreneurs worldwide. Learn more at View source version on Contacts media@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Wire
22-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
xLight Raises $40 Million Series B to Revolutionize Semiconductor Manufacturing
PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--xLight, the American company building the world's most powerful lasers, today announced it has closed an oversubscribed $40M Series B equity raise. The round was led by Playground Global, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs who have developed breakthroughs in frontier technologies, and joined by Boardman Bay Capital Management, a leading investment manager specializing in high-growth opportunities across transformative technology subsectors. Morpheus Ventures and others also joined the round. This funding further enables xLight to develop the world's most powerful extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) free electron lasers (FEL), which will revolutionize advanced semiconductor manufacturing and unlock other critical economic and national security applications. 'xLight represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore American leadership in one of the most critical technologies underpinning the semiconductor industry,' said Pat Gelsinger, Executive Chairman of the Board, xLight and GP, Playground Global Share 'xLight is on a mission to build a transformational new light source for semiconductor manufacturing that addresses the key challenges facing the industry today – cost, capabilities, and capacity. This round will equip the company with the capital needed to complete detailed design and kickstart construction of our full-scale prototype,' said Nicholas Kelez, CEO and CTO of xLight. 'Advanced semiconductor manufacturing is approaching a key inflection point – together with our partners across the National Lab and semiconductor ecosystem, and with the support of our investors, we will commercialize free electron lasers and help reclaim American leadership in semiconductor manufacturing.' 'xLight represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore American leadership in one of the most critical technologies underpinning the semiconductor industry,' said Pat Gelsinger, Executive Chairman of the Board, xLight and General Partner, Playground Global. 'By delivering an energy‑efficient EUV laser with tenfold improvements over existing technologies, xLight has the potential to drive the next era of Moore's Law – keeping chip scaling alive, accelerating fab productivity, and anchoring this foundational capability in the U.S. supply chain.' 'xLight's breakthrough technology delivers a real edge for next-generation semiconductor manufacturing,' said Peter Barrett, General Partner and co-founder at Playground Global. 'With AI driving unprecedented demand for more powerful and complex chips, the industry needs a step change in productivity. By applying proven accelerator physics in a novel way, xLight's EUV FEL platform has the potential to enable not just more efficient production, but entirely new kinds of devices. It's a bold leap forward, and one that will help reignite Moore's Law.' 'We believe the semiconductor manufacturing industry is on the precipice of the next major dislocation and xLight is perfectly positioned to capitalize on that shift,' said Will Graves, Chief Investment Officer, Boardman Bay Capital Management. 'The company's platform has the potential to reshape how fabs think about light, manufacturing capabilities, and scalability. We're proud to partner with a team pushing the boundaries of what's possible in advanced laser light sources.' 'xLight represents exactly the kind of transformative technology we seek at Morpheus Ventures—a company that's not just disrupting its market, but fundamentally redefining what's possible,' said Howard Ko, Partner, Morpheus Ventures. 'The company's deeply experienced team, coupled with the incredible technology they've developed under Nicholas' leadership, uniquely position the company for hypergrowth in the years to come, and we're thrilled to be one of their partners.' The company continues to execute against its business goals, as evidenced by the ongoing partnerships with the Cornell Laboratory for Accelerator-based ScienceS and Education (CLASSE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, three globally recognized, leading research facilities. In the last two years, the company has completed key systems designs, including subsystem prototyping and first articles, and established a working relationship with technical leaders at ASML. xLight's work with CLASSE focuses primarily on research and development, with the ultimate goal of commercializing technologies developed by Cornell's BNL ERL Test Accelerator (CBETA). The joint venture with LANL, funded by New Mexico's TRGR Technology Readiness Initiative, is focused on the application of modern machine learning techniques to enable the automation of a large-scale accelerator. Large-scale accelerators like those under cooperative development at LANL are an integral component of xLight's technical roadmap. The company's collaboration with Fermilab is focused on superconducting radio frequency cavity and cryomodule development and testing – two particle accelerator technologies that the lab mastered over decades. About xLight xLight was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA. The company's mission is to commercialize particle accelerator driven free electron lasers (FEL) for critical US economic and national security applications. xLight is led by a group of deeply experienced technologists and semiconductor industry veterans with a long track record of building complex technical systems. Our team has decades of experience designing, building, and deploying free electron lasers across a wide range of applications, from research and development to national security missions. Learn more at About Playground Global Playground Global is a deep tech venture capital firm with $1.2 billion under management, backing early-stage startups solving foundational challenges in next-generation compute, automation, energy transition, and engineered biology. Founded in 2015 and based in Palo Alto, Playground partners closely with technical and scientific founders to turn breakthrough ideas into lasting companies. The firm's portfolio includes PsiQuantum, MosaicML (acquired by Databricks), d-Matrix, Agility Robotics, Ideon, Ultima Genomics, Strand Therapeutics, and xLight. Learn more at About Boardman Bay Capital Management Boardman Bay is a venture capital and technology investment firm focused on backing the next generation of hard tech and semiconductor innovators. With a track record of supporting companies at the forefront of AI infrastructure, optical and photonic systems, chip design, and data movement, Boardman Bay has been an early investor in transformative platforms including Ayar Labs, Groq, xLight, and Credo (NASDAQ: CRDO). The firm operates a family of specialized venture funds that provide strategic, concentrated exposure to the core technologies reshaping global compute and connectivity. Founded in 2012, Boardman Bay combines deep domain expertise with a disciplined investment approach—across public and private portfolios—to help build enduring, category-defining businesses. Learn more at About Morpheus Ventures Founded in 2016, Morpheus Ventures is one of the largest early-stage investors in Los Angeles, and is investing in the disruption of large markets across the technology landscape from consumer to enterprise technologies including data-powered platforms, high performance compute platforms, AI, machine learning and enterprise SaaS. The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles and backs great entrepreneurs worldwide. Learn more at
Business Insider
16-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Ex-Intel CEO backs Trump's sovereign wealth fund plan — and says it can help the US keep up with China in the tech race
The US is falling behind in the global tech race, and former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said a sovereign wealth fund could be the country's best shot at catching up. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Tuesday, Gelsinger endorsed President Donald Trump's proposal to create a US sovereign wealth fund, calling it "the country's best tool" to secure American leadership in critical technologies like semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. "Washington's haphazard approach to fueling national competitiveness and strategic industries isn't cutting it," he wrote. "Trump's proposed sovereign wealth fund could secure American leadership." Gelsinger, now a general partner at Playground Global, argued that while American companies are making "significant breakthroughs," scaling those technologies needs "patient, long-term capital typically unavailable from Wall Street or traditional venture funds." A sovereign wealth fund, he said, could support "early-stage quantum companies, help national laboratories commercialize technologies, and ensure US breakthroughs remain domestically controlled." In February, Trump signed an executive order directing the Treasury and Commerce departments to develop a sovereign wealth fund plan to promote "fiscal sustainability," reduce the tax burden, and "promote United States economic and strategic leadership internationally." The agencies had until May to deliver recommendations on structure, governance, funding, and investment strategy. Other nations, including Norway, Singapore, and the UAE, have used sovereign funds to fuel their strategic ambitions and increase global influence. Gelsinger framed a US version of the fund as a strategic response to China's vast state-backed tech investment. "American firms have to grapple with difficult market distortions thanks to Chinese state investment," he wrote, pointing to Beijing's National Venture Capital Guidance Fund, which he said channels "tens of billions of dollars of central, provincial, and private capital into key technologies." He rebutted concerns that such a fund amounts to industrial policy, writing: "This isn't an attempt to surmount market forces. It's about the innovative startups already accessing global sovereign-wealth funds like China's, which may not be aligned with American interests." Not so simple, experts say Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norway's $1.7 trillion fund — the largest in the world — said that what works in Oslo may not translate easily to Washington. "You need to allocate capital to it, right?" he told Yahoo Finance's "Opening Bid Unfiltered" earlier this month. "What has worked for us in Norway is to have a very long-term view on what we do. It has broad political anchoring." Tangen said that the fund's stability comes from strict rules and transparency. "We are the most transparent fund in the world," he said, adding that "when you have a change in parliament or in government, you do not change the way we invest." Critics have also said that, unlike Norway, the US doesn't run a budget surplus — it runs multi-trillion-dollar deficits. While Trump's executive order references $5.7 trillion in federal assets, monetizing those assets would require political consensus and complex legal maneuvering. Still, Gelsinger believes the stakes are too high to delay. "America needs this fund now more than ever," he wrote. The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Former CEO Pat Gelsinger reveals he was 'not given the opportunity' to finish his job at Intel as he predicts the future of computing will be a 'trinity' of traditional, AI and quantum machines
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. "The decision to step down from Intel was an extremely difficult one. I wanted to finish what I started, but as you know, I was not given the opportunity," says ex Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger in a new interview with Japanese outlet PC Watch. This is the first hint from Gelsinger we've seen of what many have long suspected, specifically that his departure from Intel may not have been the simple "retirement" that was claimed at the time. Gelsinger was attending a press conference in Japan held by Playground Global, a Silicon Valley investment fund. The ex-Intel CEO now directs the fund's investment into semiconductor businesses, which loosely translates into companies that make computer chips. Along with the comments he made about his departure from Intel, Gelsinger also described his vision of the future of computing. "I believe that conventional, AI, and quantum will continue to coexist as a trinity," he said. "Conventional computers have algorithms that are suited to them, AI has algorithms that process high throughput, and I believe that quantum computing will be introduced as a new algorithm that cannot be calculated by conventional computers or AI." Gelsinger also explained that AI inferencing as opposed to training may not necessarily be best suited to GPUs, such as those made by Nvidia. In other words, while GPUs are the best option for training AI models, they may not be the optimal hardware for delivering AI services. "AI is still in the early stages of growth, and I think inference in particular is a different market from learning. And it's inefficient to use a solution for learning for inference," Gelsinger said. Presumably, Gelsinger is helping Playground Global identify what that alternative to GPUs will be as an investment opportunity. Among other investments in this area, Playground Global has a stake in Snowcap Compute, which is developing computer switches with super conductivity properties as an alternative to traditional CMOS semiconductors. Snowcap Compute claims such switches can operate 10 times faster than conventional transistors while offering 25 times the power efficiency, despite the extreme helium cooling required for its chips to operate. Snowcap Compute already has chips running at 30 GHz. Playground Global is also invested in PsiQuantum, which has plans to create a one million QuBit (quantum bit) quantum computer by 2027. All that should keep Gelsinger busy. In the meantime, we'll have to wait and see how history views his tenure at Intel. Perhaps the most significant milestone will be the release of Intel's Panther Lake CPUs on the all important 18A node. Back in the day, Gelsinger himself said he'd bet the company on 18A. If it turns out to be a great success, Gelsinger will look like a visionary hero who was pushed out of the company to soon. If 18A flops, well, best not to think about that for now. It won't be pretty, for Intel or Gelsinger's legacy. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Synthetic Design Lab Emerges with $20M to Advance Next-Generation ADCs
Company is led by cancer immunotherapy and protein engineering pioneer Daniel S. Chen, M.D., Ph.D. SYNTHBODY™ platform increases targeted payload delivery ≥10x compared to current ADCs; expects to enter the clinic in 2026 SAN FRANCISCO, April 23, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Synthetic Design Lab, a next-generation antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) company advancing its novel SYNTHBODY therapeutic platform against a range of cancer indications, emerged from stealth today with $20 million in seed financing. Backed by multiple investors including Playground Global and Godfrey Capital, the company is focused on moving its first therapeutic into clinical trials next year. Daniel S. Chen, M.D., Ph.D., a leading physician-scientist and pioneer in the fields of cancer immunotherapy and protein engineering, is founder and CEO of Synthetic Design Lab. A co-author of the renowned Cancer Immunity Cycle scientific framework, Dr. Chen spent over a decade at Genentech where he focused on the development of immune modulators, anti-angiogenics, and ADCs as targeted therapies. This included leading clinical development for atezolizumab (TECENTRIQ®), the first approved PD-L1 inhibitor, from pre-IND through clinical trials to multiple global approvals. He is the Immune Engineering Co-Chair of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), a founding partner at Genesis BioCapital, and sits on the Board of the Protein & Antibody Engineering Summit (PEGS BOSTON 2025). "We believe our SYNTHBODY therapeutic platform will deliver on the full promise of ADC technology," said Daniel S. Chen, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Synthetic Design Lab. "Our proprietary technology is engineered to optimize targeted payload delivery of 10-fold or greater compared to current ADCs, potentially improving upon the efficacy, safety, and overall versatility of earlier ADCs. When you look at ENHERTU clinical data, they are stunning. The durable responses across a broad range of tumor types resemble the best of cancer immunotherapies. At the same time the field has struggled to find targets as effective as HER2. Synthetic Design Lab and our engineered SYNTHBODY format aims to overcome this key limitation and deliver on the full promise of ADCs with an eye towards precisely targeting and delivering more payload to a much wider range of cancers." "In this rapidly evolving class of targeted cancer therapies, we have seen incredible advancements in the past few years," said Sara Hurvitz, M.D., Senior Vice President and Director of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutch Cancer Center and senior investigator of DESTINY-Breast 03 Phase III study. "ADCs like the HER2-targeting ENHERTU have demonstrated just how impactful these drugs can be for patients if we can deliver enough of the payload to the cancer cell." "With our expertise in both novel protein engineering and innovation in ADC design, we've been able to rapidly solve difficult hurdles in the field and rapidly advance our proprietary SYNTHBODY platform," said antibody engineer Ramesh Baliga, Ph.D., co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Synthetic Design Lab. "We are in a new era where biology is now programmable and accelerated drug development is occurring at the intersection of AI and synthetic biology," said Benjamin Kim, Ph.D., Partner, Playground Global and Director at Synthetic Design Lab. "By building profoundly novel ADC constructs, the Synthetic Design Lab team is able to control the biophysics at the surface of a cell to enhance performance and selectivity. We believe the SYNTHBODY therapeutic platform will broadly transform the ADC space." About Synthetic Design Lab Synthetic Design Lab is built to revolutionize antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) with its novel SYNTHBODY™ therapeutic platform. The platform is engineered to optimize targeted payload delivery ≥10x compared to current ADCs, potentially improving upon the efficacy, safety, and overall versatility of earlier ADCs. Learn more at About Playground Global Playground Global is a deep tech venture capital firm with $1.2 billion in assets under management, backing early-stage startups solving fundamental challenges in next-generation compute, automation, energy transition, and engineered biology. Started in 2015 and based in Palo Alto, CA., Playground's mission is to move civilization forward through the power of science and technology. More than just investors, Playground provides hands-on technical and operational support, helping founders turn ideas and innovations into companies with enduring impact. The firm's portfolio includes PsiQuantum, MosaicML (acquired by Databricks), d-Matrix, Agility Robotics, Ideon, Ultima Genomics, and Strand Therapeutics, among many others. Learn more at About Godfrey Capital Godfrey Capital is a venture capital firm dedicated to supporting visionary, mission-driven founders building the future of biotechnology, defense, financial, enterprise, and data integration technology companies. With deep operational involvement, Godfrey Capital partners with early-stage companies to scale with purpose and precision. We work closely with founders to sharpen strategic thinking, clarify company identity, and deepen understanding of key stakeholders—from customers, to partners, to talent. Through hands-on company building, recruiting, board leadership, and access to a powerful network of founders, advisors, operators, and investors, Godfrey Capital empowers startups to grow faster, smarter, and with lasting impact. Notable investments include Terray Therapeutics, Dyno Therapeutics, Junevity, Recursion, Forge Biologics, Checkerspot, Peregrine Technologies, Core Scientific, and Vontive. Forward Looking Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including risks and uncertainties inherent in the development of therapeutic platforms and candidates. Synthetic Design Lab's therapeutic candidates have not yet been approved by a regulatory authority for commercial use or deemed to be safe or effective for any indication. View source version on Contacts Media contact Karen Sharmaksharma@ Sign in to access your portfolio
