Funding takes spin-out on to the next Phase

Sheffield-based Phase Focus raised the cash from university research commercialisation firm Fusion IP, White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund and The Viking Fund.

Phase Focus has developed Virtual Lens, a product which eliminates the need for high-quality lenses in microscopes by transferring image-produ- cing to a computer progr- amme.

Phase Focus hopes it will revolutionise microscopy by eliminating limitations of conventional focusing devices, and also by enabling new techniques such as high-contrast stain-free imaging.

Virtual Lens has been demonstrated in optical, electron and X-ray microscopy. The funding will enable Phase Focus to further develop Virtual Lens, and to bolster relationships with key manufacturers in the $2.2bn laboratory microscopy market, the $700m cellular assays market, and the $2.1bn semiconductor metrology market.

Sheffield-based Fusion now owns a 54.2 per cent stake in Phase Focus after injecting 175,000 of the funding.

Fusion chief executive David Baynes said: "Phase Focus continues to excite us.

"This is a world leading disruptive technology that continues to have the potential to revolutionise the huge global microscopy market."