Santa Barbara, Calif — Entrada Ventures is pleased to announce its investment in Quintessent, a Santa Barbara-based company manufacturing optical engines to power the growing connectivity needs of the future.
Quintessent's roots can be traced back to 2011 when Alan Liu developed lasers with select properties that improved manufacturing at scale as part of his Ph.D. research under Dr. John Bowers' supervision at UCSB. After completing his Ph.D. in 2016, Alan moved DC to help manage and develop Federal R&D programs (DARPA and ARPA-E) in photonics. In the intervening two years, John continued this area of research at UCSB, gaining significant traction with industry partners. Alan separately observed emerging market needs in optical communications with no present compelling solution. This observation prompted John and Alan to reconverge and start Quintessent, intending to commercialize their laser technology aimed at the market gaps in optical communications.
Quintessent's unique technology comprised of advanced semiconductor materials and laser architectures allows for the scaling of high bandwidth communication channels in optical networks powering the cloud and deep learning systems.
For CEO Alan Liu, the fit with Entrada Ventures was a natural. "The Entrada team collectively possess an exceptional track record of building and leading successful companies, bringing tremendous insight and guidance to the table in addition to their investment. We'd hoped to have them onboard from day 1 and are thrilled to be part of the Entrada family. They were a key enabler in getting Quintessent off the ground, and we very much look forward to our future journey together."