Lannion, France – September 11th, 2006 – Oxxius (www.oxxius.com), a manufacturer of ultracompact lasers, announced that it has raised $10 million in a second round of equity financing.
The round was led by existing investor Sofinnova Partners who was joined by AXA Private Equity and San Francisco-based Sofinnova Ventures.
Oxxius introduced last year its range of groundbreaking SLIM lasers offering market-leading performance and compactness. It is developing an extended range of lasers based on this platform and has achieved recently a world’s first in solid-state ultraviolet lasers.
“This additional funding will enable us to grow the commercial and industrial operations of the company and consolidate our position of first-tier laser provider to instrumentation manufacturers”, said Thierry Georges, co-founder and CEO of Oxxius.
“The potential we identified in Oxxius in the first round has turned into a major market opportunity backed by a strong and differentiated technology”, says Alain Rodermann, a Partner with Sofinnova Partners.
“Our investment philosophy is to support world-class teams. Oxxius is led by a serial entrepreneur and has the talent and dedication to grow into a highly successful venture“, adds Jean-Marc Fiamma, Investment Manager with AXA Private Equity.
Alain Azan of Sofinnova Ventures concludes: “Oxxius brings a unique value proposition to the US laser market. Few investment opportunities in European startups have excited us as much in recent years.”
