Flat optics firm NIL Technology raises €29 M to scale manufacturing

09 May 2024

Investors include Export & Investment Fund Denmark, Jolt Capital, NGP Capital, and Swisscanto.

NIL Technology (NILT), a developer of flat optics, announced this week that it has raised €29 million in new capital. The investment in the Denmark-based firm was led by a syndicate of investors including the Export & Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), Jolt Capital, NGP Capital, and Swisscanto Private Equity.

Founded in Copenhagen, in 2006, NILT has been at the forefront of fabrication of advanced nanostructures and describes itself as being “vertically integrated within nanostructured flat optics – meta-optics.”

The company’s statement said that “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 organization and manufacturing capabilities to meet higher-volume customer requests.”

NILT says that its manufacturing strategy by nanoimprint lithography (NIL) allows for more precise and versatile nanostructures that 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 smart phones and AR/VR headsets, automotive and robotics applications, where there is a demand for ultra compact light weight optical solutions with minimum power consumption and allow for new functionalities required for novel sensing and imaging applications.”

Theodor Nielsen, CEO and Founder of NIL Technology, commented, “I am happy to see the strong support from our long-term investors, as well as new ones. We are dedicated to manufacture best performing meta-optics, essential for optical modules, which is possible due to our long-term commitment of making advanced nanostructures combined with proprietary technologies and capabilities within meta-optics.”

Market potential

According to Jean-Christophe Eloy, the founder and CEO of technology market analys company Yole Group, “the market for meta-optics shows great growth potential as the ultimate evolution of optics.”

Yole’s analysis reports that “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 $5.25 billion in 2022.” (Source: Optical Metasurfaces 2024 report, Yole Intelligence).