Colorado-based integrated photonics startup Polaris Electro-Optics has closed a $3 million seed financing round. The company, which develops solutions for optical interconnect systems, including for data centers, AI, and wireless, will use the funding to advance material and design innovation.

Rhapsody Venture Partners led the investment, with support from Buff Gold Ventures and pre-seed investor M Ventures. In an announcement detailing the investment, Sally Hatcher, managing partner of Buff Gold Ventures, said that Polaris’ technology builds on intellectual property licensed from the University of Colorado (CU). According to Venture Partners at CU Boulder, the commercialization arm of the university, Polaris Electro-Optics provides ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals and device reference designs for CMOS foundries for enhanced electro-optic modulators.

Per the investment, Bernard Lupien, general partner at Rhapsody, will join Polaris’ board.