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23 Jul 2025
Optics giant to incorporate Swiss startup's high-sensitivity detectors into its high-end fluorescence microscopes.
Pi Imaging Technology, a Swiss startup company specializing in single-photon detectors and cameras, has been acquired by Zeiss.
The German optics giant has been collaborating with Pi Imaging for some time, and says that it will retain the startup’s Lausanne location and all of its employees.
Founded in 2018 following research into single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) technology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and the Technical University of Delft in The Netherlands, Pi Imaging co-developed the world’s first prototype megapixel SPAD image sensor in 2019.
Two years later, they followed that up with the world’s first SPAD-based camera, and today’s products include a range of point SPADs, linear SPADs, SPAD cameras, and custom devices aimed at applications across life sciences, industrial applications, quantum technology and more.
Michael Albiez, who heads up Zeiss’ research microscopy solutions division, commented: “The goal of the acquisition is to combine the innovative SPAD technology with Zeiss microscopy solutions and jointly further develop them, thereby expanding our market-leading position.
“With the acquisition of Pi Imaging Technology, we are investing in a technology that secures our future core business and enables further growth.”
LASER Innovation Award
News of the Zeiss deal comes a month after Pi Imaging’s “SPAD Alpha” camera won an Innovation Award in the “sensors” category at the LASER World of Photonics 2025 trade show in Munich.
Described by the firm as a “next-generation megapixel single-photon camera”, it is available in both monochrome and color versions.
“With zero readout noise, [less than] 100 cps dark count, a nanosecond global shutter, and full-resolution photon counting up to 73,000 fps (tunable to over 1 million fps), it’s built for ultrafast, high dynamic range, and time-resolved imaging, unlocking new potential in low-light, 3D, and scientific applications,” stated the startup.
Its CEO and co-founder Michel Antolovic, who established the firm after working with EPFL researchers Edoardo Charbon and Claudio Bruschin, said in a Zeiss release announcing the acquisition:
“We achieved pioneering milestones by being the first company to integrate a SPAD array into a commercial microscope in 2020 and subsequently introducing the first SPAD camera to the market in 2021.
“I am very pleased that after many years of trusting collaboration with Zeiss, we are now taking the next step and integrating our entire business into the Zeiss Group. We will merge our innovation capabilities and together shape the field of light detection.”
Zeiss says that Pi Imaging’s SPAD detectors will complement both current and future sensor technologies used in its high-end microscopes.
“The combination of Pi Imaging’s technology and Zeiss microscopy solutions will enable innovative solutions for researchers in the field of high-end fluorescence microscopy in the future,” stated the company.
“The integration of SPAD technology into Zeiss microscopes improves both the quality and throughput in microscopic imaging in life sciences and so opens new technological possibilities and applications.
“Since SPAD detectors offer exceptional sensitivity in low-light conditions, they allow researchers to study molecular environments and interactions with remarkable clarity, for example.”
Aside from the focus on microscopy technologies, the Zeiss and Pi Imaging team is set to collaborate on other applications including spectroscopy, scientific imaging, low-light imaging, and high-speed imaging.
Pi Imaging Technology corporate video showing SPAD Alpha capabilities:
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