Singular Photonics, an Edinburgh-based fabless semiconductor startup, has raised £1.6 million in an oversubscribed round led by ACF Investors, with participation from Wren Capital, Cambridge Angels, Scottish Enterprise, Quantum Exponential and Old College Capital.
Every digital camera, industrial vision system and scientific imaging instrument depends on image sensors to capture light and convert it into useful information. Conventional sensors measure the intensity of light and are now approaching the limits of how much information they can capture. Sensors built on single photon avalanche diodes take a different approach, precisely detecting and timing individual photons, which opens the door to imaging systems that record information conventional cameras cannot see. Singular Photonics pairs that SPAD technology with advanced on-chip computation, so information is analysed at the point where light is first detected and meaningful results are extracted in real time. For customers, that means smaller, faster and more efficient systems suited to edge computing and AI-driven applications.
Full-year 2025 sales have already doubled in 2026 to date, driven by customer engagements across multiple sectors and including a recent collaboration with instrumentation leader Renishaw. The Andarta and Sirona product families are commercially available and generating revenue.
Alongside the round, former Arm CTO Dipesh Patel has joined the board of directors. During 25 years at Arm, Dr. Patel held a number of general and technical management positions, culminating in his role as CTO, where he was responsible for the Research and Digital IT functions.
The new capital will accelerate development of a new generation of sensors, scaling engineering capacity and speeding time-to-market for image sensors aimed at machine vision, industrial automation and physical AI, as well as scientific discovery and medical imaging.
This has been a phenomenal year for Singular Photonics. We've already doubled our 2025 sales, we're approaching break-even, and our customers are telling us exactly what they want from future products. This oversubscribed round means we can respond faster – expanding our sensor portfolio and bringing new features to market on our customers' timelines, not just our own.
Singular Photonics is an exciting addition to our portfolio, combining world-leading sensor science with genuine commercial promise. The industry is moving from capturing images to generating actionable insights directly from light itself, and Singular has both the technology and the team to lead that shift. We're delighted to back them into their next phase of growth.
Scottish Enterprise has supported Singular Photonics ambition to develop SPAD-based image sensors over several years. The Photonics, Quantum, Sensing and Connectivity and Semi-conductors Sector is a key opportunity area for growth for Scotland. Companies such as Singular Photonics can play a vital role in transforming our economy by scaling-up, creating high value jobs and competing internationally.
In a strong signal of confidence in Singular's trajectory, existing shareholders followed the new investors into the round, meeting or exceeding their pre-emption rights. Combined with the appetite shown by new investors, the round was met with robust demand – a clear vote of confidence in the team, the technology and the commercial momentum the company has built.
