A €40M Bet on Nanophotonic Imaging Technology
Imaging startup eyeo has secured €40 million in Series A funding, bringing its total capital raised to €55 million. The company is commercialising nanophotonic imaging technology originally developed at research institute imec, with the ambition to overhaul how image sensors capture light. Rather than evolving existing smartphone camera sensors incrementally, eyeo is targeting the underlying physics that limits today’s devices. Led by Innovation Industries, with repeat backing from imec.xpand, Invest-NL, Qbic, High-Tech Gründerfonds and the Brabant Development Agency, the round supports eyeo’s shift from research to commercial scale. Co-founder and CEO Jeroen Hoet says every modern device with a camera is constrained by decades-old architectures, and that eyeo’s patented platform has already been validated at a commercial foundry and engaged with tier-one customers. Support via the European Union’s InvestEU Fund underlines the strategic significance of pushing sensor performance beyond conventional boundaries.
How Nanophotonic Sensors Rethink Light and Color
eyeo’s core innovation is a nanophotonic colour-splitting platform, branded NCOS, that replaces conventional color filter arrays. In today’s smartphone camera sensors and industrial imaging systems, filters selectively block wavelengths, sacrificing a significant fraction of incoming light before it ever reaches the pixels. Nanophotonic imaging technology instead uses carefully engineered structures to split and steer photons towards specific pixels, capturing virtually all usable light. This architecture promises a major light sensitivity improvement, particularly in dim scenes where traditional designs struggle. At the same time, directing distinct wavelengths instead of filtering them enables more precise color separation, positioning eyeo as a provider of high-performance color accuracy sensors. Crucially, NCOS is compatible with existing CMOS platforms, allowing sensor makers to integrate the technology without uprooting established manufacturing flows, while also enabling ultra-compact, sub-micron pixels that maintain or even improve image quality.
From Smartphones to Smart Cities: Target Applications
Because the technology works with standard CMOS processes and supports extremely small pixels, eyeo is targeting a broad range of camera markets simultaneously. In smartphones, nanophotonic imaging technology could enable thinner camera modules with better low-light performance and richer, more faithful colors. Beyond consumer devices, the same light sensitivity improvement benefits industrial imaging innovation, where inspections, machine vision, and robotics often operate under challenging lighting. XR headsets and glasses could use compact sensors to deliver higher resolution and more accurate color without bulky optics, improving immersion and comfort. Smart city infrastructure and autonomous systems stand to gain from enhanced dynamic range and reliability when capturing scenes across day and night. eyeo’s strategy is to offer a platform that OEMs can adopt across product lines, positioning its color-splitting sensors as a drop-in upgrade path rather than a niche, application-specific solution.
A Fundamental Shift from Half-Century-Old Sensor Design
eyeo frames its approach as removing a constraint that has limited image sensors for roughly 50 years: the reliance on absorptive color filters. In the conventional Bayer pattern, each pixel only measures a narrow band of wavelengths, and the rest of the light is rejected as loss. Computational demosaicing then reconstructs a full-color image, but at the cost of efficiency and potential artifacts. By splitting light instead of filtering it, nanophotonic structures change this trade-off at the physical level. Multiple wavelengths can be routed to neighboring pixels, boosting signal without depending solely on post-processing tricks. This shift is particularly important as manufacturers push toward smaller pixel sizes. At sub-micron scales, traditional filters and microlenses struggle to maintain performance, whereas engineered photonic structures can be tuned to guide light with high precision. The result is a sensor architecture that scales more gracefully as cameras shrink.
Commercial Rollout, Competition and Next-Gen Stacked Sensors
With its Series A closed, eyeo is moving from proof-of-concept to broader commercial deployment. The company plans to expand in-house engineering, deepen collaborations with OEMs and manufacturers, and ramp production through existing foundry partners. It is also investing in next-generation 3D-stacked CMOS image sensors, where photonic color-splitting layers can be combined with advanced readout electronics to further improve performance and integrate additional on-sensor processing. In a fiercely competitive imaging market dominated by established sensor vendors, eyeo’s differentiation rests on its patented nanophotonic platform and its compatibility with standard CMOS flows. Rather than competing solely on incremental pixel count increases, the company positions itself as enabling a qualitative leap in light sensitivity and color accuracy. If it can demonstrate reliable yields and cost-effective scaling, eyeo may become a key enabling partner for smartphone camera sensors, industrial imaging innovation, and future XR and smart city deployments.