Nordic deeptech EIFys raises €700,000 seed, led by Voima Ventures, for light sensor technology

EIFys, a Nordic startup on track to transform how light is captured and measured, has raised a €700,000 seed round, led by Voima Ventures, a Nordic VC focused entirely on deeptech and science-driven startups. Founded in 2017 by a team of Aalto University researchers, EIFys is the first to combine the latest developments in solar cell technology with light detection, and thus, successfully apply black silicon to light sensing. The result is a technological breakthrough: sensors that capture virtually all incoming light rays. “Most light sensing technologies capture about two thirds of light rays, whereas we can capture all of them. Our technology allows us to significantly improve the performance of any device that uses light detectors,” CEO Mikko A. Juntunen explains. “Our mission is to make the world a safer place. We are already offering immediate improvements to existing safety and security solutions, such as airport and hotel lobby scanners. In the future, we hope to see ElFys technology applied to med tech, where we see that we can have the most significant impact. In fact, our technology can already offer the same x-ray image quality as current devices, but with 30% less radiation,” he continued. The fresh funding will go to EIFys’ R&D and sales teams. The company plans to share its technology’s first applications and use cases with the public sometime next year. Commenting on the investment, Inka Mero of Voima Ventures said: “We’re particularly excited about ElFys’ ability to influence the development of entirely new technologies and devices across the whole ecosystem, and see light-sensing applications expand from security and safety to the field of medical and consumer wearables. For example, we might see new, non-invasive and light sensing -based, medtech wearables for patients and the aging population.”

Voima Ventures is a new €40 million fund, supported largely by  VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and European Investment Fund (EIF), and this is the firm’s first investment.