Nearfield Instruments, a Netherlands-based firm developing metrology and inspection (M&I) solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry, has announced the successful closure of a €135 million landmark Series-C funding round.
The oversubscribed funding round, which was the second largest capital raise in the semiconductor fabrication equipment market in Europe and the U.S in the past five years, according to Mergermarket, was led by two new major investors.
Who were among the investors?
The leading firms included Walden Catalyst, a U.S venture capital firm helping the next generation of category-defining businesses in deep-tech, and Temasek, a global investor that examines opportunities in emerging technologies to solve complex and high impact challenges, while addressing market inflections.
M&G Investments, a leading global asset manager, through its Catalyst strategy, is acting as a co-investor, while existing investors such as Innovation Industries, Invest-NL, and ING also participated in the round.
Eric Meurice, Chairman of the Nearfield Instruments Supervisory Board, stated: “This fantastic outcome enables us to accelerate Nearfield’s efforts to provide unique solutions to meet the industry’s M&I needs for the most advanced nodes. 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 M&I.”
What is driving the demand?
Nearfield says the growing complexities in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, driven by the surge in demand for higher performing and lower energy consuming chips, are behind the growing demand – though its innovative process control solutions are designed to help.
Such solutions include the QUADRA 3D metrology system that provides non-destructive, high-throughput, and high-resolution metrology capabilities. Nearfield, which has been backed by new funding, is deeply engaged with most major chip manufacturers globally, and its QUADRA solution is fully validated and deployed in high-volume manufacturing.
Dr. Hamed Sadeghian, Co-Founder and CEO of Nearfield Instruments, commented: “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. With significant contributions from investment leaders, we are well positioned to meet the growing demand for M&I 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.”
Nearfield, a Netherlands-based scale-up, is embedded in the strong Dutch ecosystem of semiconductor innovation and investments – an industry that is expected to reach USD $1 trillion in global revenue by 2029.
“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.
Sohn concluded: “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.”
