Belgian start-up Spectricity, a provider of hyperspectral sensing for mobile and consumer devices, has raised €14m in a series B funding round.

The money will be used to accelerate the development and mass production of hyperspectral sensors and imagers for high-volume, low-cost applications from wearables to smartphones and IoT devices.

Hyperspectral sensing allows devices to see beyond what the naked eye can see. The sensor can measure heartbeat, the amount of oxygen in the blood or the hydration of skin, while hyperspectral imagers can be used to match skin tone to cosmetics or to determine whether food is fresh.

Spectricity’s patented, spectral sensing technology can make professional grade sensors and imagers small and low power enough to fit a smartphone or a wearable device. This technology could bring a wide array of health, cosmetic, food and augmented reality applications to the pockets and wrists of consumers.

“This is a major milestone for Spectricity and the deployment of our chip size hyperspectral sensor and imager for mass market mobile devices and applications,” said Vincent Mouret, CEO of Spectricity. “This new round of financing will enable us to significantly accelerate our high-volume manufacturing, hire key talent and continue to expand our partnerships.”

Global investors AtlanticBridge, Capricorn Fusion China Fund and Shanghai Semiconductor Equipment & Material Fund (SSMEF) participated in this B round alongside Belgium series A investors Imec Xpand and Xtrion. This round brings Spectricity’s total funding to date to €20m.

“The formation of Spectricity is a prime example of remarkable semiconductor innovation born in Europe, based on unique technology developed at Imec,” said Peter Vanbekbergen, partner at Imec Xpand. “The best companies start with a great technology base, with founders coming together to identify a big problem and line up an expert investment team to help them succeed. As part of that team, we’re focused on providing Spectricity with unique value and networking.”

According to a March 2021 paper on the compact spectrometer systems market, emerging chip-size spectrometers are going to fuel growth to more than 300 million chips per year in 2024. New type spectrometers will be as small as semiconductor chips.

“I am pleased to see Spectricity growing and closing their second financing round, three years after its creation as an Imec spin-off,” said Luc Van den Hove, CEO of Imec. “Spectricity’s products are based on unique Imec technology, and we will continue to maintain a strong link between our R&D and Spectricity’s development to enable a lasting competitive edge for Spectricity’s products.”

Following more than ten years of research at Imec, an R&D and innovation hub in nano-electronics and digital technologies, Spectricity was founded in 2018 by a team including research engineers of Imec. Semiconductor industry veterans, CEO Vincent Mouret who joined the company last April and chairman Pieter Vorenkamp, ex-senior vice president of Broadcom, helped productise the technology and scale the company.

Spectricity is a fabless semiconductor company creating spectral sensing for high-volume mobile and consumer devices, using low-cost CMOS technologies. Its patented, spectral sensing technology enhances existing camera sensors by fusing data with other image and 3D sensors in the devices to provide augmented real-time data, user-environment interfacing and big data analysis. The sensors enable applications from skin health to skin cosmetics and agricultural, AR, food analysis and more.