PhovIR is a University of Manchester spinout building ultra-compact, silicon-based near-infrared (NIR) sensors using MEMS and configurable software to detect the “optical fingerprint” of solids, liquids and gases. Its platform is designed to be lightweight, scalable and affordable so a single configurable chip can replace multiple sensors. Target applications cited include drink-spiking detection, food-contamination and ripeness sensing in agriculture, pollution monitoring and industrial safety. The company completed Northern Gritstone’s NG Studios pre-seed programme to sharpen its go-to-market strategy. PhovIR plans to expand its team, accelerate product development and commercialisation, and move toward large-scale production. The company says the technology aims to reduce device cost and complexity while enabling new digital diagnostics and environmental-sensing use cases.

Total raised

$5M

Funding rounds

1

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Aug 2025