We are excited to share that EIC ScalingUp portfolio company NIL Technology (NILT), a flat optics innovator, has secured €29 million in new capital in a round led by a syndicate of investors, including the Export & Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), Jolt Capital, NGP Capital, and Swisscanto Private Equity.  

NILT is a Denmark-born optical solutions company designing, developing, and manufacturing optical elements and components using high-precision nanoscale features. Founded in 2006, the company has been at the forefront of fabrication of advanced nanostructures and is today vertically integrated within nanostructured flat optics (meta-optics).

Continuing the Momentum: The Latest from EIC ScalingUp's Success Narrative

In 2022, NILT was selected among more than 3,000 candidates to be part of the EIC ScalingUp programme, a project by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) that gathered the most promising deep-tech companies in Europe. EIC ScalingUp is the predecessor programme for the currently ongoing EIC Scaling Club.

Empowering Next-Gen Tech: NILT's Meta-Optics Revolution and Industry Applications

The company is leading the way in flat optics and is well positioned for a solid growth trajectory. With demand for its technology increasing, NILT has matured its meta-optics technology across the value chain from design to prototyping and is now scaling its manufacturing organisation and manufacturing capabilities to meet higher-volume customer requests. NILT’s manufacturing strategy by nanoimprint lithography (NIL) allows for more precise and versatile nanostructures, which enables unmatched meta-optics performance. High-performance meta-optics in high-volume are the key to building winning optical solutions to be used in consumer electronics like smartphones and AR/VR headsets, automotive and robotics applications, where there is a demand for ultra compact light weight optical solutions with minimum power consumption, as well as allow for new functionalities required for novel sensing and imaging applications.

Helping Shape a Multi-billion-dollar Market for Optical Systems

According to industry analyst Yole Group, the market for meta-optics shows great growth potential as the ultimate evolution of optics. Meta-optics can take optical functionalities to the next level, be it for compact imaging modules for the consumer market, advanced imaging for industrial, medical, and automotive applications, and, of course, for AR optical systems. For perspective, the optics lens set for compact camera modules market alone represented $5.25B in 2022.

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