Senorics raises 2.3 million euros of venture capital for stamp size organic sensors

• With the help of rays of light, Senorics analyses the contents of food or agricultural products, for example
• Ventura Investment, Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen and TUDAG invest in the development and production of innovative photonic sensors for the analysis of materials

The Dresden-based sensor technology start-up Senorics raises 2.3 million euros in its seed funding round. The investors include Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen (TGFS), the lead investor Ventura Investment GmbH (Ventura) and TUDAG TU Dresden Aktiengesellschaft. The Saxon high-tech company is a specialist in innovative near infrared (NIR)-spectroscopy sensors. The founding team identified the beer industry as the first application: breweries can use the Senorics sensors to determine the alcohol and sugar content of their mash and thus optimise their brewing process.

The start-up Senorics, which was founded in 2017, is a spin-off company from the chair of
Prof. Dr Karl Leo, the winner of the Deutscher Zukunftspreis and Director of the “Integrated Centre for Applied Physics and Photonic Materials” at the University of Technology Dresden (TU Dresden). The founders Dr Ronny Timmreck, Robert Langer, Dr Robert Brückner and Dr Matthias Jahnel intend to revolutionise the market for small, powerful infrared technologies with their technology. Senorics would like to use the funding to further develop its patented optical sensor technology so that the numerous areas of application for this technology can be opened up and the high-tech sensors can be mass-produced in the future.

The innovative analysis technology makes it possible to verify and measure contents and impurities in a large number of solids and liquids, e.g. in food, plastics or medicines. Due to the use of customised organic semiconductor materials which are structured in thin layers to form very small infrared detectors, Senorics can produce highly compact wavelength-selective sensor arrays. “With our inexpensive and compact NIR measuring devices, we allow analyses to be performed which are currently only possible in the laboratory with expensive, large and sensitive spectrometers,” says Dr Ronny Timmreck, CEO of Senorics. “In the short term, we would like to bring this efficient analysis technology into industrial applications, for example inline process monitoring or mobile quality controls in the agricultural sector and the food industry. In the medium term, we want to make these analyses possible for end consumers too, such as home brewers or diabetics, through specialised consumer products,” adds Timmreck.

Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen also sees huge potential in Senorics‘ sensor technology. “The market for innovative sensor systems is growing rapidly throughout the world,” says Andreas Müller, Investment Director of Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen. “Due to their innovative structure, the sensors have properties which can be promisingly used anywhere where liquids or foods have to be analysed by NIR-spectroscopy, for example. We are delighted to be providing financial support for another technologically leading spin-off company from TU Dresden, in the form of Senorics,” says Andreas Müller. And Senorics’ lead investor Ventura Investment adds: “With our investment in Senorics, we want to be involved with the opportunity for a further success story for the business and scientific location Dresden, ” says Frank Schenk, Managing Director of Ventura Investment GmbH, a graduate of TU Dresden himself.

Senorics is growing on fertile ground. “It is the innovative high-tech eco-system Silicon
Saxony and the partner Smart Systems Hub – Enabling IoT that make it possible for Senorics to experience such a positive development in Dresden,” says Frank Bösenberg, Managing Director of Silicon Saxony Management GmbH. “We have known the founders of Senorics right from the beginning. We have helped them to find the right partners for the further development of the technology. In the Smart Systems Hub, we have worked on a sustainable business model with the partners HighTech Startbahn and futuresax, in collaboration with Senorics,” adds Frank Bösenberg.

About Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen
TGFS provides technology-oriented founders with venture capital for the seed and start-up phase. The fund, initiated by the Free State of Saxony, was launched in 2008 with a volume of 60 million euros and was topped up to more than 124 million euros in March 2016 . The target companies of the TGFS are young, innovative, technology-oriented founders and companies which belong to the ICT, new media, semiconductor technology, microsystem and sensor technology, new materials, medical technology and environmental and energy technology sectors. TGFS focuses on young companies with a headquarters or business premises in Saxony.

About Ventura Investment GmbH
Ventura Investment GmbH is a Dresden-based company which holds interests in young, technology-oriented companies, as well as in management companies for commercial properties. The owners or the management of the company originally came from the Dresden-based companies Saxocom AG and Saxoprint GmbH, each of which were sold to large industrial concerns. With entrepreneurial experience of more than 20 years, it aims to support promising start-ups.

About TUDAG
TUDAG initiates and fosters a transfer of knowledge (primarily from TU Dresden) to the private sector. Principally through projects/studies, courses/certificates and start-ups. It also conveys the requirements of business to science. Thus, TUDAG is an essential interface between science and business.