Nearfield Instruments secures 135 million euros in funding.
Nearfield Instruments has secured €135 million during an “oversubscribed” Series-C funding round. Said funding round was led by two major investors, Walden Catalyst (a leading US venture capital organisation), and Temasek (a global investor specialising in emerging technologies). Additionally, M&G Investments (a global asset manager) is an acting co-investor through its catalyst strategy.
“We are thrilled that Nearfield’s’ QUADRA 3D metrology system has been fully integrated into the first major high-volume semiconductor manufacturing fab. This milestone solidifies our pioneering role in advancing critical metrology for leading-edge nodes,” said Dr Hamed Sadeghian, Co-Founder and CEO of Nearfield Instruments. “With significant contributions from investment leaders, we are well-positioned to meet the growing demand for metrology and inspection in the coming decade. This funding will enable us to ramp up production capacity, expand our product portfolio, and strengthen our position as a key player in the semiconductor equipment industry.”
The metrology and inspection specialist, which is active within the semiconductor industry, aims to address the increasing demands for higher-performing and lower energy-consuming chips. Nearfield Instruments’ process control solutions like the QUADRA 3D metrology system for non-destructive, high-resolution metrology functions hope to help manufacturers face these demands.
“Advanced semiconductors are the key pillars for global innovation and growth. The next generation of semiconductors will be driven by Advanced Lithography and 3D Integration, with smaller features, deeper trenches, and tighter tolerances,” said Young Sohn, Founding Managing Partner at Walden Catalyst. “The high-volume manufacturing of these next-gen devices requires new process control tools to enable higher yield and throughput, and Nearfield’s metrology solutions are critical for solving these process control challenges. We are excited to partner with Hamed and his world-class team to further accelerate Nearfield’s growth.”
“This fantastic outcome enables us to accelerate Nearfield’s efforts to provide unique solutions to meet the industry’s metrology and inspection needs for the most advanced nodes,” said Eric Meurice, Chairman of the Nearfield Instruments Supervisory Board. “Providing process control and yield improvement is critical in this global industry. It is great to see the continued support of our shareholders combined with the onboarding of new industry-leading investors who will reinforce our global view and network and cement the company’s position as the leader in metrology and inspection.”