Mario Paniccia spent 20 years at Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC) developing photonics technology.
Now he's putting that experience to work at his startup, Anello Photonics. The three-year-old Santa Clara company, which Paniccia founded, is using photonics technology — the use of light and lasers to send or collect data — to make chip-based gyroscopes. Its chip is designed to replace fiber-optic gyroscopes in vehicles, drones and consumer electronics devices.
Anello got an affirmation of its approach Wednesday when it announced it had closed a $28 million Series A round, the biggest such round of the past week.
The company plans to use the new funds to speed up development of its technology, which it says offers the same accuracy of fiber-optic sensors in a smaller, lighter, less expensive product.
"We are going to change the navigation industry," Paniccia, Anello's CEO, said in a press release announcing the new funding round.
Here's more on its latest funding deal and seven other Series A rounds from the region:
Anello Photonics Inc., Santa Clara, $28 million: New Legacy Ventures led the round for this developer of a chip-based gyroscope for use in vehicles, drones and consumer electronics devices. Lockheed Martin Ventures, Catapult Ventures, JS Capital and HCVC also invested in the company.
Sommelier, San Francisco, $23 million: Polychain Capital led the round for this provider of an ethereum-based decentralized finance service. Alameda Ventures, Zola Ventures, Byzantine Ventures, Tendermint Ventures, Secure Ventures, D1 Ventures and Ferngrove Ventures also participated.
Colony Labs Inc. (dba Scribe), San Francisco, $22 million: Tiger Global Management led round for this provider of an automated workflow documentation service. Amplify Partners, Haystack Ventures, XYZ Ventures, Jerry Yang’s AME Cloud Ventures, Morado Ventures, and SEV also invested.
SaaS Labs US Inc. (dba JustCall), Palo Alto, $17 million: Base10 Partners and Eight Roads Ventures led the funding of this provider of cloud-based phone support software.
Hex Technologies Inc., San Francisco, $16 million: Redpoint Ventures led the round for this provider of collaborative data analysis software. Amplify Partners, Data Community Fund, Geometry, Operator Collective, Tokyo Black, Vandelay Ventures and XYZ Venture Capital also invested.
Countable Corp., San Francisco, $12 million: Canaan Partners led the round for this provider of a corporate public relations service that helps companies design websites to promote causes and burnish their reputations. Ulysses Management and Global Catalyst Partners also participated.
Interviewing.io Inc., San Francisco, $10 million: M13 led the round for this provider of a service that offers mock technical interviews for tech workers.
Crossing Minds Inc., San Francisco, $10 million: Radical Ventures led the funding of this provider of a recommendation service. Index Ventures, Partech and Lerer Hippeau also participated.
