University of Liverpool spin-out SenseAI Vision Ltd, which is developing compressive sensing image processing technologies has closed its first seed investment.
This new investment will enable SenseAI to further develop its core compressive sensing technology and scale the roll-out of its software product to end-customers together with strategic hardware OEM partners.
The investment round was led by the Ventures team at Foresight Group, with participation from the University of Liverpool, Sivananthan Laboratories, Wren Capital, Haatch, LYVA Labs, and the Liverpool City Region Seed Fund, managed by AXM Venture Capital.
Investigating, designing and optimising nano structures are increasingly vital for industries such as semiconductors, life sciences and materials research. At length scales below c.200nm, Electron Microscopy ("EM") remains the gold standard imaging and analytical method, offering magnifications up to 50,000,000x. However, the prolonged exposure to high-energy electron beams damages samples, and image acquisition time is slow due to the large data volumes required, often taking hours and even days.
Underpinned by world leading research conducted by Professor Nigel Browning, Chief Scientific Officer at SenseAI and head of EM at the University of Liverpool, SenseAI's compressive sensing EM software addresses these challenges by enabling high-quality images from subsampled (i.e. vastly reduced) datasets, enabling up to 100x improvements i.e. in acquisition speed and reduction in beam damage. SenseAI's software is designed to be natively integrated with existing EM hardware. Unlike other methods such as those derived from deep-learning AI, SenseAI's software requires no prior training datasets, and is not prone to hallucinations.
Professor Browning has extensive global experience and accolades, formerly a Fellow at several institutions in the US, including the Pacific Northwest National Lab and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and with over 380 publications.
He is also the principal investigator for RUEDI, the £125m STFC-funded, world's most powerful high energy electron microscope for ultrafast imaging. Nigel is joined by Dan Somers as Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of SenseAI, who is an exited founder with extensive experience in early-stage venture building as partner at Boundary Capital, a pre-seed deep-tech VC fund.
The global EM market is estimated to be $5bn in 2025, projected to grow to around $9bn by 2031 at a CAGR of 8%. This growth is primarily driven by the increasing adoption of EM for inspection, metrology, and analysis within high-value sectors, such as to enable the development of cutting-edge process nodes for next-generation semiconductor chips, and the adoption of cryogenic electron microscopy ("Cryo-EM") for structural biomolecular research within biopharma drug discovery workflows.
SenseAI's compressive sensing technology represents a step change in imaging speed, quality and versatility for the utilisation of EM.
Since spinning out in April 2024, the Company has deployed its software across research institutions in semiconductor materials and life sciences. Early adopters such as King's College London and CNR-IMM have reported clear benefits, including reduced consumables usage, reduced beam damage, and improved experimental outcomes.
Dan Somers, CEO of SenseAI said: "We're delighted to partner with all these experienced investors. They have already brought value as well as synergies with many of their portfolio companies which are being exploited already. They are all aligned with our ambition and we believe they will provide us with the best chances to realise our full potential."
Desmond Cheung, Investment Manager at Foresight Group, commented: "We were really impressed by Dan and Nigel's background in electron microscopy and company building, and the traction achieved to date with world-leading research institutions, such as King's College London and CNR-IMM, where the SenseAI's software is already making a quantifiable impact in cutting-edge life science and semiconductor research."
Rupert Wingate-Saul, Investment Director at Liverpool City Region Seed Fund & Akshay Bhatnagar, Head of Investment at LYVA Labs jointly said: "We are proud to support a disruptive deep-tech spinout from the Liverpool City Region. By working in close partnership with leading investors such as Foresight, Haatch and Wren Capital, we can ensure world-class research from our region has the opportunity to scale internationally."
Emma Nolan, Head of Enterprise at the University of Liverpool, commented: "SenseAI is a great example of how the University's world-leading research can be translated into innovation with global impact. The University's Enterprise Team is proud to have supported the company from the very beginning and we are delighted by its success in attracting investment from a strong syndicate of investors."
