Seetrum Receives Pre Round A of Financing, Focusing on R&D of Spectral Chips

On Wednesday, Seetrum, the core technology supplier in the spectral chip industry, received several hundred million yuan in Pre-Round A financing. The investment was led by Wu Yuefeng Kechuang and followed by Sequoia China, Qingkong Investment, Xinxi Capital and China-US Green Fund, with Seetrum’s existing shareholder Inno-Chip and SEE Fund continuing their investment. This round of funds will be used mainly for the engineering and commercialization of the core technology of spectral chips.

Founded in September 2020 and headquartered in Beijing, Seetrum is a high-tech company that commercializes the scientific research achievements of Tsinghua University. Its technological leadership benefits from the accumulation of micro-nano optics research accumulated over the last 20 years by Professor Huang Yidong of the Tsinghua University Electronics Department.

Dr. Wang Yu, co-founder and CEO of Seetrum, said that mainstream spectral detection technology is, at present, restricted by several  factors including high prices, huge volume and slow imaging. The technology also has a very limited application  and market scale. In many application fields, such as smartphones, medical devices, machine vision, and so on, miniaturized and low-cost spectral detection schemes are urgently needed.

Seetrum’s snapshot CMOS hyperspectral imaging chip featureshigh precision, low cost, and can be mass-produced. It is equipped with an artificial intelligence algorithm, which can provide customers with advanced spectral software and hardware solutions.

According to some statistics, the scale of the market for traditional spectral detection equipment is worth tens of billions of yuan, which is mainly based on  spatial optical technologies such as grating splitting.

Spectral chips are an emerging technology with the advantage of being really small. At present, leading enterprises in this field include IMEC, AMS and others.

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In September 2021, Seetrum launched its Fuhong Series Spectral Sensing Chip, the SEE8610, and Lancai Series Spectral Imaging Chip, the SEE8810, at the China International Optoelectronic Expo (CIOE). The chips  can provide high-performance and small-size business-used spectral solutions. The chip products can be used for smartphones, smart homes, fresh food inspection, medical devices, industrial inspection, and so on.

At present, Seetrum has nearly 100 employees, of which R&D professionals account for 70%. The company has R&D centers in Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou.