MantiSpectra secures €4 million for miniaturised spectrometers
MantiSpectra, a spinoff from the Eindhoven University of Technology, has announced that it has secured €4 million seed funding. The company says this investment will support its mission to revolutionise how we ‘see’ the world around us by enabling the adoption of near-infrared spectroscopy everywhere.
Innovation Industries and PhotonVentures led the funding round. MantiSpectra intends to use this capital injection, along with support from the PhotonDelta National Growth Fund programme, to drive global commercialisation and widespread adoption of its spectral sensing platform.
The company has developed ChipSense, a spectral sensor on a chip, that is intended to replace and augment traditional bulky spectrometers, and enable compact, portable, and cost-effective material analysis everywhere. By leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, MantiSpectra’s platform seeks to offer highly accurate and rapid material composition analysis directly where it is needed. This includes applications in agrifood production processes, recycling facilities to differentiate among plastics and fibres, process analytics for real-time control, and new consumer devices enhanced by real-time accurate data.
MantiSpectra says it already has customers and partners actively using their spectral platform in more than 20 countries, including Fortune 500 companies and three of the world’s top 10 food and beverage companies. The company has also received awards for its technology, including the International Industrial Hermes Startup Award, the Rabobank Sustainable Innovation Award and the recent Gerard & Anton Award.
The recent investment marks a significant milestone for MantiSpectra, and will be utilised to scale their semiconductor platform and support the existing customers toward mass production. With the new capital infusion, the company aims to accelerate the scale-up of the fabrication phase, increase its production capacity to support high-volume application cases and develop database libraries for turn-key solutions.
Vincent Kamphorst Investment Director at Innovation Industries, said: “MantiSpectra’s unique miniaturised photonics solution can enable mass market adoption of spectroscopy towards consumer-level scale. This can make a huge positive impact, with applications in healthy living and reduction of food waste, to name just a few. We’re looking forward to supporting the team in further commercialising and scaling the business”
Pieter Klinkert, partner at PhotonVentures, added: “MantiSpectra is a great example of unique applications making use of integrated photonics. It underlines the difference and impact that integrated photonics in leading sensing applications. We have been working together with MantiSpectra’s team since 2020 and they are as stellar as their technology. We applaud their ambition and are proud we are able to continue supporting them towards their future success”
