Optics11 has secured about $56 million in equity to expand manufacturing and international operations after winning a Dutch naval order for portable submarine-detection systems. The Amsterdam-based company announced the financing on November 9.
The company makes fiber-optic sensing equipment for navies and electricity-grid operators. Its OptiArray listens for underwater activity from a cable towed behind a ship. Its grid-monitoring product, OptiFinder, pinpoints electrical discharges that can warn of developing equipment faults.
For the Dutch ASWINABO program, Optics11 is packaging OptiArray in a container that can be fitted to crewed and uncrewed surface vessels, including civilian ships. The company says that portability broadens the fleet that can carry submarine-detection equipment, which has traditionally required specialized naval vessels.
FORWARD.one, Value Creation Capital, SET Ventures and JOIN Capital all reinvested. The new equity is nearly three times the approximately $19 million financing announced in May 2025, which involved the same investors. Figures are in US dollars, converted at November 9, 2026 reference rates.
The Dutch Ministry of Defence signed the ASWINABO development contract on July 16, saying the navy needed more underwater-detection capacity and wanted production to begin as quickly as possible. Optics11’s July announcement said the project would also establish production, integration and validation capacity to support larger deployments.