Agate Sensors receives €5.6 million for chip-based spectroscopy in everyday devices

The Finnish start-up Agate Sensors is bringing a groundbreaking technology from laboratory spectroscopy to the size of a microchip. With a €5.6 million funding round, the company aims to expand its production capacity and integrate the chip sensors into devices such as smartphones, wearables and medical devices. The round includes €4 million in seed funding from Voima Ventures and LIFTT and €1.6 million in grants from Business Finland.

Agate's chip sensors enable cameras to analyze the spectral signatures of materials in real time, far beyond the human-visible color spectrum. The technology distinguishes hundreds of light bands simultaneously, giving machines a kind of supervision.

Software-defined spectroscopy

Thanks to software-defined functions, a single sensor can switch between different tasks, for example from health diagnosis to material and object recognition.

We have taken a spectrometer that was previously used in specialized laboratories and made it small and affordable so that it fits into everyday devices

Tommi Leino, CEO of Agate Sensors

The first chips are expected to be produced by the end of 2025, with proof-of-concept demonstrators in 2026 and the first commercial wearables expected by the end of 2027.

Applications from everyday life to defense

Agate's sensors open up new possibilities in numerous industries:

• Health and wearables: multi-biomarker monitoring and real-time diagnostics.
• Supply chain & anti-counterfeiting: detection of counterfeit products.
• Agriculture & environment: early detection of plant stress or pollutants.
• Defense & Security: Detection of synthetic camouflage or vehicle types via paint signatures.

"This technology is changing the way machines perceive their environment," says Mikael Westerlund, CBO of Agate Sensors. "We are creating a new level of light-based intelligence."

This technology is changing the way machines perceive their environment. We are creating a new level of light-based intelligence.

Mikael Westerlund, CBO of Agate Sensors

Research and expertise

The platform is based on over a decade of research in semiconductor physics and nanotechnology at Aalto University, explains CTO Dr. Andreas Liapis. It is the first time that laboratory quality has been integrated into the form of a mass-market chip.

The investors see great potential."Agate Sensors is a leap forward in hyperspectral sensor technology - software-defined, scalable and powerful," comments Niko Elers, Investment Director at Voima Ventures.

Europe and technological sovereignty

For LIFTT and the European investors, the technology is also a strategic investment:"Agate Sensors strengthens Europe's technological sovereignty in defense and security. For the first time, machines can understand what they see in a way that is suitable for the masses," says Pierluigi Freni, Project Manager at LIFTT.

The financing round shows that deep-tech start-ups in Europe can not only develop innovative products, but also commercialize technologies with strategic importance for health, industry and security.