Photosynthetic B.V.: Bringing Digital Speed and Design Freedom to Microfabrication
Photosynthetic, an Amsterdam-based deep-tech company, is rethinking how the world makes very small things. As a member of the PhotonHub Scaling Club, the company is developing Volumetric Micro-Lithography (VML) — an ultra-fast micro-printing technology that produces nano- and micro-scale structures with sub-micron precision, opening a faster and more flexible alternative to traditional cleanroom processes.
Dr. Alexander Kostenko, CEO and Founder of Photosynthetic, shared the company’s vision: “Our mission is to make microfabrication faster, more flexible, and accessible to more innovators. Today, creating microstructures often requires expensive cleanrooms, long development cycles, and many process steps. We want to change that.”
Kostenko founded Photosynthetic after more than a decade in high-impact research, including a PhD in Physics from Delft University of Technology, work as a processing geophysicist at Shell, and postdoctoral research at CWI.
An integrated platform for digital microfabrication
Photosynthetic helps researchers and innovators create highly precise microstructures for applications such as microfluidics, microneedles, organ-on-chip systems, photonics, and advanced microfabrication. What sets the company apart is the way it brings several disciplines into a single system.
“Our secret sauce is the combination of precision hardware, advanced optics, resin chemistry, and computational algorithms in one integrated printing platform,” explained Kostenko. “This allows us to digitally fabricate complex microstructures with high precision, while giving researchers and companies much more freedom to design, test, and iterate quickly.”
Instead of relying on slow, expensive, and often inflexible cleanroom-based processes, the technology enables faster iteration and more flexible prototyping of functional microstructures. The company’s first product, ORIGIN2.5, is an MVP printer aimed at R&D facilities, universities, labs, and medical centres. It produces high-aspect-ratio microstructures over centimetre-scale areas, with applications including microfluidic channels, cell-capture structures, nanowell arrays, microneedles, micropillars and porous membranes.
From technology development to a focused product company
Photosynthetic is now moving from prototype to MVP-ready systems, upgrading the hardware, optics, electronics, control software, user interface, and process repeatability — while validating the technology with early customers and ecosystem partners, including UMC Utrecht and the TU/e MicroFabLab/NanolabNL environment.
“Our current priority is to turn Photosynthetic from a technology-development company into a focused product company,” said Kostenko. “That means productizing our ORIGIN2.5 MVP printer, validating it with early customers and academic users, and converting the strongest opportunities into paid pilots or first system placements.”
The company is initially focusing on R&D users in life sciences, microfluidics, membranes, scaffolds, and microneedle applications, using its pilot facilities in Amsterdam and Eindhoven to gather customer feedback and build reference cases. Longer-term opportunities, such as 2D maskless lithography, micro-optics, and photonic packaging remain on the roadmap as evidence-based expansion routes.
Backed by strong validation and recognition
Photosynthetic has advanced from scientific concept to TRL6 MVP, turning an ambitious idea into a working platform backed by three patent applications, multiple prototype generations, and demonstrated sub-micron precision.
The company has earned significant external recognition: winning the Formnext Start-Up Challenge, being selected for the Eureka delegation to SWITCH, reaching the finals of the Hello Tomorrow Global Deep-Tech Challenge, joining the highly selective Luminate Accelerator, and taking 2nd prize at the SPIE Startup Challenge at Photonics West. Most recently, it secured €2.5 million from the EIC Accelerator to continue its development.
Crucially, the technology has moved well beyond the lab. Photosynthetic has produced microneedle array patches for vaccine and drug delivery, developed proof-of-concept microfiltration membranes, printed single-cell analysis chips, and deployed its technology in an operational environment in the Netherlands.
PhotonHub Scaling Club: from technology to market
Joining the PhotonHub Scaling Club marks an important step as Photosynthetic shifts from technology development toward commercialization.
“At this stage, we need the right network, technical partners, and market feedback to help scale our ORIGIN2.5 printer and strengthen our go-to-market strategy,” said Kostenko. “As a member, we hope to gain access to photonics expertise, strategic partners, potential customers, and support for technical upscaling. It is also a valuable platform to increase our visibility in the European photonics ecosystem and connect with investors and industry partners who understand deep-tech hardware.”
Shaping the future of microfabrication
Photosynthetic is seeking partners, early users, and investors ready to shape the future of digital microfabrication. For innovators in life sciences, photonics, microfluidics, microneedles, membranes, and advanced R&D, Photosynthetic offers a faster, more flexible alternative to traditional cleanroom-based processes — turning a long, costly, and rigid workflow into something much closer to digital printing.
Learn more at photosynthetic.nl.
Newsletter
Stay up to date with market insights, trailblazing investment cases, and leadership profiles by subscribing to our newsletter.