CMOS image sensor start-up CMOSIS has successfully concluded a round of private equity financing for the ongoing development of innovative CMOS image sensor technologies and further business expansion. The investment, totalling €3m, is from several highly regarded Belgian high-tech investment firms, with ING Corporate Investments of Brussels, Belgium, as lead investor and acting as strategic financial partner.
'We are convinced that CMOSIS has the potential to be a leader in the highly innovative market for CMOS image sensor technology,' said Tom Bousmans, private equity investment manager at ING Corporate Investments. 'This is due to their uniquely qualified management and engineering teams, their proven scientific know-how base and long-time market expertise. Through this substantial capital increase, we will secure their continued growth. We believe in the strategic direction of CMOSIS and the market potential for high-end CMOS image sensors.'
The CMOSIS technology portfolio contains crucial IP related to various advanced aspects of image sensors – among them high pixel counts at a high fill factor, high-speed functionality, large bit-depth of column ADCs, high dynamic range, TDI (time-delay and integration) implementation in CMOS and novel rad-hard pixel concepts.
'CMOSIS's first 19 months of operation have confirmed that there are vast, still untapped, business opportunities for CMOS image sensors, especially in areas that were considered CCD strongholds,' said CMOSIS CEO Luc De Mey. 'We are well positioned for a significant share of future industrial and professional CMOS image sensor markets.'
CMOSIS occupies an 800m2 industrial facility in Antwerp, Belgium, where it operates development labs, device qualification and a 100m2, Class 100, clean room for wafer and device production testing. The recently enlarged premises support the launch of a suite of standard machine-vision CMOS imagers as well as the manufacture of the company's first custom image sensor products.
