NovaSight builds FMCW 4D LiDAR systems on silicon photonics at 1550 nm — replacing expensive III-V compounds with CMOS-compatible manufacturing for the first time.
Today's best 1550 nm LiDAR systems rely on III-V compound semiconductors — materials that are fundamentally incompatible with mass manufacturing.
InP and GaAs wafers cost up to $5,000 each versus $5 for silicon — before accounting for smaller wafer sizes and lower yields.
III-V compounds require entirely separate, specialized foundries. No access to the $500B+ silicon semiconductor infrastructure.
Each component must be individually packaged and aligned. A single butterfly-packaged laser can cost hundreds of dollars. Automotive volumes are impossible.
We replace III-V compounds with silicon photonics — enabling wafer-scale integration in standard CMOS foundries for the first time at 1550 nm.
Every point carries X, Y, Z and instantaneous radial velocity — no inter-frame estimation, no latency. Immune to sunlight and cross-sensor interference at the physics level.
Absorbed by cornea and lens before reaching the retina. 40× greater permissible power vs. 905 nm — directly enabling longer range and higher resolution within Class 1 safety limits.
Waveguides, modulators, and detectors monolithically integrated on silicon. Same foundries that make transistors. Wafer costs drop from $5,000 to $5. Yield curves improve automatically over time.
Silicon photonics follows the same cost-learning curves that drove datacom transceiver prices down by 10× per decade. The endpoint is commodity LiDAR at silicon scale.
Where others compromise on cost or technology, NovaSight doesn't.
| Capability | NovaSight | Luminar | Velodyne / Ouster | Aeva |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wavelength | 1550 nm | 1550 nm | 905 nm | 1550 nm |
| Detection Method | FMCW (coherent) | ToF (pulsed) | ToF (pulsed) | FMCW (coherent) |
| Native Velocity per Point | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Sunlight / Interference Immune | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Silicon Photonics Manufacturing | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ~ |
| CMOS Foundry Compatible | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ~ |
| Target Cost at Volume | < $100 | ~$500 | ~$200–400 | < $500 |
Three converging forces make 2025 the inflection point for silicon photonics LiDAR.
TSMC, GlobalFoundries, and IMEC have invested billions into silicon photonics process lines — driven by datacom demand. NovaSight inherits this infrastructure on day one.
NCAP 2025 requirements and L2+ adoption are pushing OEMs to source affordable, high-performance LiDAR at volumes that III-V manufacturing cannot sustain.
Delivery robots, autonomous forklifts, and commercial drones need LiDAR below $200/unit. Today's sensors are 5–10× too expensive. Silicon photonics closes that gap.
Ge-on-Si detectors and heterogeneous laser integration have crossed the R&D threshold. The core building blocks are validated — NovaSight integrates them into a complete system.
We are raising our pre-seed round. If you invest in deep tech, photonics, or the future of autonomy — we want to talk.
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