November 10 2025 -- At PIC Summit Europe 2025, PhotonDelta and Gritd announced PhotonStudio, a new venture studio that transforms industrial bottlenecks into photonic chip startups. PhotonStudio begins not with a technology or prototype, but with real-world challenges and by that, they overhaul the venture creation model.

Flipping the Script

One of PhotonDelta’s key ambitions is to stimulate a strong photonic chip startup culture, a cornerstone for accelerating the Dutch and European integrated photonics industry. But while the technology itself is world-class, many initiatives have historically started from a technology push.

PhotonStudio changes that. The approach starts with listening: identifying where processes in sectors like food, logistics, healthcare, or energy slow down because of measurement, detection, or monitoring limitations and then exploring how photonic chip technology can help.

Laurens Weers, CFO of PhotonDelta, commented:

“PhotonStudio flips the venture creation model we so often see. Instead of pushing solutions to the market, we begin with the challenges companies actually face. Only then do we connect the right integrated photonic chip solutions to drive real impact.”

Stephan Botz of Gritd added:

“Together, we’re enabling entrepreneurs and industry partners to co-create ventures that solve pressing industrial and societal challenges by harnessing the power of photonic chip technology.”

A Different Kind of Venture Studio

Most venture studios scout for technology and then go looking for a market. PhotonStudio turns that around. It starts with scouting for validated industry pain points and building the right team and solution around them.

The process follows four clear steps:

• 1. Identify – Gather measurable pain and bottlenecks directly from the industry.
• 2. Validate – Assess concrete use cases and business cases based on the identified challenges.
• 3. Translate – Assess whether photonic chip technology is the right solution.
• 4. Build – Form investor-ready ventures and create the first MVP.

This focused, problem-driven approach combines PhotonDelta’s Dutch and European photonic chip ecosystem, from designers and foundries to integrators and investors, with Gritd’s venture-building methodology and expertise in validation. Together, they make startup creation well-validated and more capital-efficient.

Built for Impact, Not Ownership

PhotonStudio operates on a no-equity, value-creation model, a distinctive approach that sets it apart from most venture studios. Startups are built as a service for future founders, allowing value to flow back into the ecosystem to entrepreneurs, investors, and especially industrial partners.

“Our incentive is impact, not ownership,” Weers said. “We’re not here to build startups for the sake of it, we’re here to build solutions that matter. By focusing on validated challenges, we create capital-efficient ventures that solve real industry pain points.”

A Call to Industry and Entrepreneurs

PhotonStudio invites industrial companies to bring forward their toughest process challenges, particularly where precision measurement, sensing, or monitoring is holding back progress. Over the next twelve months, the studio aims to spin out its first ventures to demonstrate the power of this approach.

Entrepreneurial professionals interested in building companies around validated, high-impact use cases are also encouraged to connect with PhotonStudio and become part of the next generation of founders.