Finnish hyperspectral instrument maker Specim gets €5.3 million in venture and R&D capital
(Image: Specim)
Specim, Spectral Imaging Oy (Oulu, Finland), which makes hyperspectral imaging instruments and systems, has received 5.3 million euros of venture capital from Teknoventure Oy (also in Oulu) and R&D financing from Tekes (Helsinki), a Finnish publicly funded expert organization.
All happening in Finland
"Specim, which was originally spun off from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., will accelerate its international growth thanks to Finnish financing, utilizing the miniaturization expertise of its subcontractor, a local company which in turn is a Nokia spin-off," says Risto Kalske, chairman of the board of directors. "All the present and potential new jobs enabled by the new growth leap are based in Finland, including manufacturing of the products."
The company, which was founded in 1995 by three former researchers at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, produces imaging spectral camera products for various industrial, environmental, and defense applications. Some example uses are in mining industry to create mineral maps from core scanning, for defining plant diseases, for monitoring the condition of pipelines from airplanes or drones, in quality control, for tracking drug plantations, and in detecting explosives.
Specim has its roots in manufacturing one-of-a-kind precision hyperspectral measurement systems that can range as high as a million euro in value. Specim says that it is going to continue to pursue this path, and that it will use the new financing to develop a new product generation.
"Many applications, which have originally been developed for high-end research or defense administration purposes, have in time begun to serve more our everyday life. We see clear signs that this is also the case for hyperspectral imaging. We want to be early movers in these new markets thanks to our R&D efforts," says Timo Hyvärinen, one of the original founders and a majority owner of the company.