Optics11 raises EUR 50m to scale fibre optic sensing for navies and power grids
The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam spin-out says it has now raised more than EUR 100m in 15 months. Its sensors use light instead of electronics to pick up sound under water and early signs of faults in high-voltage equipment.
Optics11, an Amsterdam company that makes fibre optic sensing systems for underwater surveillance and electricity grids, has raised EUR 50 million in follow-on equity, it said in a press release dated 9 November 2026. All four of its existing institutional investors, FORWARD.one, Value Creation Capital, SET Ventures and JOIN Capital, put in more money.
The company said the round takes total investment to more than EUR 100 million in just 15 months. The money will go into manufacturing and international expansion, Tech Funding News reported. Optics11 did not disclose a valuation.
What Optics11 makes
Optics11 was founded in 2011 as a spin-out from research at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Its sensors use light to capture very small acoustic signals. Because there are no powered electronics at the sensing point, the systems are silent and immune to electromagnetic interference, the company says.
It sells products in two areas. Under water, OptiBarrier is a seabed system that the company says can detect and classify targets up to 100 kilometres from the shore. OptiArray is a towed array for anti-submarine warfare and maritime surveillance. For energy grids, OptiFinder detects and locates partial discharge, an early warning sign of faults inside high-voltage equipment such as transformers. One OptiFinder unit can support up to 32 passive sensors, according to the company, and the product is already in live use around the world.
Navy contracts and partners
Earlier this year the Dutch Ministry of Defence selected Optics11's containerised OptiArray system for its ASWINABO programme, short for Anti-Submarine Warfare In A Box. The programme is meant to let the Royal Netherlands Navy deploy underwater sensing from a much wider range of crewed and uncrewed surface vessels, including civilian ships. Tech Funding News reports that the ministry awarded the contract in July and that Optics11 signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Swedish defence group Saab on 21 October.
"This investment is a significant milestone for Optics11 and reflects the growing international demand for technology that can help protect the critical infrastructure our societies depend upon," chief executive Paul Heiden said in the release. He said the money would let the company scale its manufacturing and international capabilities.
How the EUR 100 million adds up
The new equity comes on top of earlier financing. According to Tech Funding News, Optics11 raised EUR 17 million in equity in May 2025 in a round led by FORWARD.one and SET Ventures. In January 2026 the European Investment Bank provided a EUR 25 million venture debt facility under the EU's InvestEU programme. The company has not published a full breakdown of the total.
MarineLink, a maritime trade publication, put the new round at about USD 55.9 million.
Why investors are backing it now
The company links the demand to the security situation in Europe. Governments are reassessing how they protect undersea cables, pipelines, ports and offshore energy sites as hybrid attacks extend into the sea, the release says. At the same time, rising electricity demand is putting more strain on grid equipment that utilities want to monitor more closely.
Tech Funding News adds some caution. It notes that the announcement does not mention independent testing of the claim that passive fibre sensing gives earlier warnings than conventional electrical sensors, and that defence buyers tend to move slowly. A navy contract or partnership does not always mean revenue quickly.
The round also shows how uneven defence tech funding in Europe is. Citing Dealroom data, Tech Funding News says mega rounds account for more than 85% of European defence tech funding this year. One recent example is Onodrim's USD 300 million Series A. We have also covered Helsing's push into air defence.
What it means for European founders and investors
For founders in deep tech, Optics11 is an example of a long road from university lab to defence supplier. The company is 15 years old and has raised most of its outside capital in the last 15 months, after its technology found buyers in both defence and energy. Selling one core technology into two markets with different budgets can make a company less dependent on slow defence procurement.
For investors, the fact that all four existing backers reinvested signals confidence from the investors who know the company best. No new outside investor was named in this round. The EIB venture debt and the Dutch navy programme show that public money is also helping to build European suppliers of maritime security technology.
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