5PM Raises Capital to Push 5D Optical Memory Toward Commercial Reality

Key Takeaways

  • 5PM closed a pre-seed round led by Creator Fund and XTX Ventures
  • Funding accelerates commercialization of 5D optical memory and advanced fused‑silica optics
  • Demand surge for cold and archival storage is creating openings for alternatives to magnetic tape
  • Company reports early traction with hyperscalers and aerospace, semiconductor, and microscopy customers

The concept of storing a human genome or the entire Wikipedia in a crystal once sounded like speculative fiction. That changed when Professor Peter Kazansky demonstrated long‑term data preservation in fused silica using a five‑dimensional encoding method. His work, published over many years at the University of Southampton through the Optoelectronics Research Centre, set the stage for the formation of 5PM and its first significant capital infusion.

Industrial interest in the technology is building rapidly. 5PM closed the round shortly after publicly demonstrating the durability and density of its 5D memory approach. The company is positioning the technology for two markets that rarely move quickly: cold data storage and precision optical components. Both are under pressure as hyperscale operators face energy and sustainability constraints, while advanced manufacturing demands tighter tolerances in optical materials.

The investment was led by Creator Fund, which focuses on spinning research out of European universities, and XTX Ventures, the venture arm of XTX Markets. Their strategies align well with 5PM’s profile: physics-heavy IP, long development cycles, and commercial use cases that depend on measurable performance gains rather than incremental upgrades. Creator Fund’s portfolio includes deep technical startups emerging from PhD research, while XTX Ventures concentrates on early-stage companies supported by applied machine learning expertise.

5D optical memory operates as more than just another storage medium competing on cost per terabyte. It introduces physical characteristics that magnetic tape cannot match. Fused silica can withstand extreme temperatures, radiation, and mechanical stress. For data that must survive for centuries without active power, these properties are vital. Microsoft helped validate this direction with Project Silica, demonstrating early prototypes using laser-written quartz storage. That momentum has benefited companies like 5PM, which are developing commercial-grade manufacturing processes for these eternal memory crystals.

Proprietary femtosecond laser writing sits at the center of both the storage and optics strategies. The technique manipulates the internal structure of fused silica, producing stable nanostructures that encode multiple layers of information. In optics manufacturing, the same process creates highly precise test targets and components for microscopy, high‑power laser systems, aerospace instruments, and semiconductor tools. Customers in these sectors prioritize repeatability and resilience. The company has already delivered components to global R&D labs, and the technology gained pop-culture recognition when a 5D memory crystal served as the central plot device in the film Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.

The surge in data creation drives the timing for this technology. The cold data storage market is projected to grow significantly by 2030, fueled by AI training sets, scientific data, machine logs, and long-term compliance archives. Global data generation has increased sharply over the last four years, suggesting capacity constraints are approaching a breaking point. Tape manufacturers are under pressure to keep pace, and hyperscalers are exploring alternatives that cut energy consumption for storage that may not be read for months or decades.

The company is refining systems capable of operating in radiation-heavy space environments. While space‑borne data centers may seem distant, agencies and private operators are actively testing compute architectures outside the atmosphere. Radiation tolerance remains one of the primary engineering challenges in these projects, making fused silica-based storage a natural fit.

Backing from XTX Ventures introduces a strategic advantage. XTX Markets is known for sophisticated ML-driven trading systems. The venture arm often supports portfolio companies with access to data-science expertise and operational tooling. This guidance may help 5PM refine manufacturing automation, calibration, and modeling for its laser‑based processes.

This raise combines technical credibility with market demand, a mix often absent at the pre‑seed stage. Whether 5D optical memory becomes a mainstream archival format or remains a specialized tool will depend on engineering progress over the next few years. The capital secured allows 5PM to expand its team, refine manufacturing throughput, and convert interest from major operators into formal partnerships.