Seed Funding Announced for Dutch Optical Spectroscopy Startup

Eindhoven University of Technology spinoff MantiSpectra, an optical technology startup, is receiving seed capital funding from PhotonDelta and Innovation Industries. MantiSpectra is developing NIR spectrometer technology using photonic integrated chips aimed at overcoming current solutions, which may be bulky and expensive in laboratory settings.

The investment, according to a press release, enables MantiSpectra to expand its team and industrialize a product featuring its technology: a stand-alone spectrometer that the company said will initially target applications in the agri-food sector.

Maurangelo Petruzella, managing director and co-founder of MantiSpectra, cited green tech, pharma, and medical as sectors to which the company’s forthcoming technology may be applied.

“Providing startups like MantiSpectra with a toolbox for growth is essential for the Dutch integrated photonics cluster to thrive over the medium and long term,” said PhotonDelta CEO Ewit Roos. “It will generate new innovative businesses that make use of the leading-edge supply chain we have in the Netherlands and reinforce the position of the Netherlands as a global leader in the high-tech scene.”

PhotonDelta is a European network of companies, knowledge institutions, and governments; through its Startup Studio program, it aims to facilitate initiatives involving fabless integrated photonics components vendors addressing market opportunities.

Innovation Industries is a venture capital investor that provides accelerator capital and strategic support to Dutch high-tech, med-tech, agri-tech, and food-tech businesses. It is investing through its Thematic Technology Transfer Fund.