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ioLight makes laboratory grade microscopes that fit in your pocket. Since a successful Crowdcube raise in 2015, the product launched in July 2016 with over 40 units already sold to customers including The Eden Project, Bayer and the University of Cambridge.
- Targeting £100k revenue in 2017, with over £30k sold so far
- Patent filed in March 2014
- Over £400k funding received to date, including equity and awards
- Combining optics with iPhones, images compare to lab equipment
Idea
ioLight makes laboratory grade microscopes that fit in your pocket.
Good science relies on making primary measurements on samples in their environment. Yet for years scientists have had to collect samples in the field and take them back to a lab microscope for analysis. The ioLight microscope solves this problem capturing beautiful high-resolution images onto a tablet or phone anywhere. As well as improving the quality of science, it saves the cost and time of returning to site to collect better samples.
ioLight was incorporated in February 2014. Founders Andrew Monk and Richard Williams filed a patent application in March 2014. In 2015 the company raised a total of £400k in equity funding from a seed round and a Crowdcube round. The product was launched in July 2016 and sold over 30 units for £20k by the end of 2016.
Customers include The Eden Project; universities; schools, vets, pathologists and micro-engineering companies.
In an evaluation by the Quekett Microscopical Club, ioLight’s images were comparable with those from a lab microscope.
The Eden Project has bought ioLight microscopes and says they are “awesome”.
Cambridge University says “it produces high-quality images for rapid and high-resolution inspection of many samples, and is extremely convenient to use.”
Bayer Animal Health invited ioLight to exhibit on its stand at the London Vet Show.