£250k Additional Investment in "Lensless" Microscopy Company Phase Focus

University of Sheffield spin-out company Phase Focus has secured additional funding of £250,000 to continue its development of “lensless” optical microscopy that has the ability to produce better images at a lower cost.  

Fusion IP plc has invested £125,000, alongside the Riding Early Growth Investment Company Ltd "Viking Fund", which has invested £100,000 and White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund, managed by Aberdeen Asset Managers, which has invested a further £25,000. The investment follows the successful completion of a "lensless" optical microscope prototype instrument by the company.

White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund is also pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Neil Loxley as Non-Executive Director, representing White Rose, on the Board of Phase Focus. Neil was formerly Chief Executive at Bede plc, which he transformed from a specialist scientific instruments company into a global semiconductor equipment company.

Phase Focus' cutting edge technology can generate greatly magnified high definition images of an object without the need for sophisticated lenses that are used in conventional microscopes. Such lenses or other focusing devices in optical, X-ray or electron microscopes can account for up to 30% of the cost of the equipment and often introduce distortions in the images that they produce. Phase Focus' ”lensless” microscopy is therefore not only highly cost competitive, but can also provide a more faithful image of the object of interest and can enable a range of additional novel applications.

The investment follows previous investment in February 2008 from both White Rose and Fusion IP, will allow Phase Focus to progress the electron microscope technology through full proof of principle. The previous investment allowed Phase Focus to complete the development of a prototype “lensless” optical microscope.

Potential applications for the Phase Focus technology lie within the optical, x-ray and electron microscopy market, a market which is forecast to grow to US$1.6 billion by 2009, according to Business Opportunity*. The technology has already been demonstrated in both the optical and x-ray frequency ranges and is in principle applicable to the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and other potential applications therefore exist in radar, ultra-violet, infra-red, and terahertz imaging.

David Milroy of Aberdeen Asset Managers, which manages the White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund, said: “This is very exciting technology from a very exciting business that is going from strength to strength. Neil Loxley's appointment as non-executive director will bring strong management and industry experience to the team, and help it to take the business to the next level.”

David Baynes, CEO of Fusion IP, said: “Phase Focus is a very exciting spin-out company from the University of Sheffield and has a revolutionary “lensless” microscope technology which is principally targeting the electron microscopy and optical microscopy markets for which addressable opportunities of approximately £40 million are forecast each year, according to Phase Focus estimates. We are pleased to be investing with White Rose and the Viking Fund to advance the prototype technology through full proof of principle.”

Also commenting on the investment, Professor John Rodenburg, Phase Focus's Chief Scientific Officer and developer of the technology, said: “We are delighted with the progress that has already been made on the development of a prototype “lensless” optical microscope. It has the potential to build a 3D image that will not only provide high definition images for microscopists, but has applications that could extend beyond the optical and x-ray frequency ranges into applications in radar, ultra-violet, infra-red, and terahertz imaging.”

*Reference: Business Opportunity Report GB-312: “Microscopy”, Business Communications Company, Inc., ISBN 1-59623-057-6, February 2005.

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