IoLight Magnificent Mobile Microscopes

Summary

ioLight makes microscopes that fit in your pocket or inside laboratory incubators and display high-resolution images of cells on any mobile phone. It has sold 400 units and has a global network of resellers with validated high-value opportunities.

• Global distribution; 90% export; $1.1BN market growing at 6.5%
• Team has 50 years global science experience and two patent families (one granted, one pending)
• Featured in BBC Royal Institution Christmas Lecture
• National Geographic, Everest 2019: Highest science on the planet

Idea

The two biggest societal influences today are Climate Change and Pandemics. Climate change is driving scientists to the most remote places on earth to look at the impact on the smallest, most fragile organisms. They need a small powerful microscope they can take with them. Pandemics are driving bioresearch, which relies on monitoring cell growth in incubators. ioLight's are the only pocket microscopes that can share images of cells. They are small enough to image cell growth inside an incubator with the door closed to maintain experimental conditions.

The Global microscope market is $9.5BN and growing at 7.9%. The digital microscope sector is $1.1BN. With ioLight’s high resolution and professional features, its products can access the whole digital sector.

ioLight was founded in 2014 and has raised £815k in equity funding. It used these funds to develop and patent a pilot product that has sold 400 units, and to build a global network of resellers. In the past year, the company has built a strong sales pipeline. Our new funding will accelerate this revenue and win new opportunities.

ioLight featured in two National Geographic videos on Mount Everest and in the BBC Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. The compact microscopes have been to Antarctica, to the Amazon Rainforest and to Kazakhstan. It is used by government, animal and plant health agencies in the UK and the USA.

Team

Andrew Monk (CEO) has an Oxford Masters and 30 years of experience in running technology businesses. He has won OEM deals with corporates Honeywell, Marconi and Rosemount (Emerson) and has strong CEO experience. Richard Williams (CTO) has an Oxford PhD in Optics, 20 years of optical engineering and 7 years of CEO experience. John Foster (NED) is a technology entrepreneur and founder of successful global engineering specialist, Sarum Hydraulics. Dominic Del Mar is a Non Executive Director.

Andrew and Richard noticed that there were no small powerful internet-connected microscopes available to field scientists. They used high-quality low-cost mobile phone parts to fill this gap.

Microscopes are widely used for diagnostics in medicine, animal and plant health and engineering, but they are stuck in the lab. ioLight liberates microscopes from the lab to where they are needed enabling rapid diagnosis, saving lives and increasing productivity. Our beautiful images are displayed on any mobile phone ready for instant sharing and AI image recognition programs. ioLight technology can liberate any microscope analysis to go anywhere.