A University of Liverpool spinout developing image processing software for electron microscopy has secured seed funding led by Foresight Group.
SenseAI Vision has also been backed by the University of Liverpool, Sivananthan Laboratories, Wren Capital, Haatch, LYVA Labs and the Liverpool City Region Seed Fund, managed by AXM Venture Capital.
It will use the funds to accelerate product development and expand rollout to research and industrial customers in high-value sectors.
The firm’s technology aims to tackle long-standing challenges in electron microscopy (EM), which is widely used in semiconductors, life sciences and materials research.
Traditional EM offers magnifications up to 50m times but comes with drawbacks, such as long acquisition times, high data volumes and damage to samples caused by prolonged exposure to electron beams.
Founded in April 2024, the company has developed compressive sensing EM software which is said to be capable of producing high-quality images from vastly reduced datasets.
This can reportedly cut acquisition times by up to 100x and reduce beam damage, without the need for pre-trained AI models.
The software is already being used by researchers at King’s College London and CNR-IMM, who report reduced consumables use, less beam damage and improved results.
The technology builds on the work of Professor Nigel Browning, SenseAI’s chief scientific officer and head of EM at the University of Liverpool.
Browning, who has held senior research positions in the US and authored more than 380 publications, is also principal investigator for RUEDI – the £125m STFC-funded ultrafast electron microscope project.
“We’re delighted to partner with all these experienced investors,” said Dan Somers, CEO of SenseAI.
“They have already brought value as well as synergies with many of their portfolio companies which are being exploited already.
“They are all aligned with our ambition and we believe they will provide us with the best chances to realise our full potential”
Desmond Cheung, investment manager at Foresight Group, added: “We were really impressed by Dan and Nigel’s background in electron microscopy and company building, and the traction achieved to date with world-leading research institutions, such as King’s College London and CNR-IMM, where SenseAI’s software is already making a quantifiable impact in cutting-edge life science and semiconductor research.”