Austrian DeepTech Startup Invisible-Light Labs Secures €1.5 Million to Advance Nanoscale Material Analysis

The funding round was co-led by XISTA Science Ventures and aws Gründungsfonds, with additional participation from Fund F.

Read Also - Finnish WeatherTech Startup Skyfora Raises €6.5 Million to Expand Atmospheric Sensing Network

“EMILIE combines the high sensitivity of nanomechanical sensing with the wide availability of infrared spectrometers. This funding will allow us to bring this new capability into more hands, from researchers developing new nanoparticle-based drugs and nanomaterials to atmospheric scientists working at the Earth’s poles,” says Dr. Josiane P. Lafleur, CEO and co-founder, Invisible-Light Labs.

Overall, funding activity in 2026 has reached approximately €60.5 million across a range of DeepTech sectors, including nanomaterials, materials science software, environmental sensing, photonics, advanced materials, climate-focused industrial technologies, and quantum and semiconductor hardware.

Within this broader landscape, the funding secured by Invisible-Light Labs is smaller than the Seed and Series A rounds raised by companies such as Chiral, Vitrealab, and Groove Quantum. However, it reflects a similar trend of science-driven and university-affiliated European startups attracting investment to transition innovative technologies from research laboratories into commercial markets.

The company also joins a growing group of Austrian DeepTech ventures attracting investor attention. Alongside Vienna-based startups such as Vitrealab and sequestra, Invisible-Light Labs highlights the increasing strength of Austria's innovation ecosystem and its ability to produce commercially viable technologies rooted in advanced scientific research.

“We have been deeply impressed by how the founding team of ILL has translated strong scientific insight into an exceptional technology and product, now being co-marketed with Bruker, the market leader in its field. Achieving this with limited resources speaks to the team’s capabilities, focus, and drive. We are excited to support ILL in the next stage of its journey,” adds Dr. Alexander Schwartz, Partner XISTA Science Ventures.

Invisible-Light Labs is a DeepTech startup spun out of TU Wien in 2019. The company specializes in commercializing nanoelectromechanical Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (NEMS-FTIR), an advanced analytical technology capable of identifying the chemical composition of extremely small particles and materials, including aerosols, nanomaterials, and samples available only in tiny quantities.

The company was founded by Silvan Schmid, Josiane P. Lafleur, Niklas Luhmann, and Hajrudin Bešić. By combining nanoelectromechanical sensing with Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, the company enables highly precise chemical analysis of nanomaterials across a variety of sectors, including pharmaceuticals, environmental monitoring, advanced manufacturing, and scientific research.

Its flagship product, EMILIE, is a commercially available NEMS-FTIR analyzer designed to perform highly sensitive material characterization. The system is also marketed in partnership with Bruker Optics under the name BRKR-EMILIE, helping expand its reach to laboratories and industrial customers worldwide.

According to the company, materials such as aerosols, nanoplastics, and nanopharmaceuticals are becoming increasingly important in fields including environmental health, consumer safety, semiconductor development, and next-generation therapeutics. However, conventional analytical technologies often struggle to deliver fast and accurate chemical characterization at such small scales. Invisible-Light Labs aims to solve this challenge by providing a new generation of highly sensitive, user-friendly analytical tools.

To strengthen its international presence, Invisible-Light Labs entered into a strategic partnership with Bruker Optics in 2025, expanding the global availability of its co-branded EMILIE system and accelerating adoption of its advanced material analysis technology.

About Invisible-Light Labs

Invisible-Light Labs is a deep-tech startup that was spun out of TU Wien in 2019. The company develops advanced technology that helps scientists and industries identify and analyze extremely small particles and materials. Its award-winning NEMS-FTIR technology combines nanoelectromechanical sensing with infrared spectroscopy to detect the chemical composition of nanomaterials, aerosols, nanoplastics, and other tiny samples, even when only very small amounts are available. The technology works at room temperature and provides highly accurate chemical analysis, making it useful for applications in environmental monitoring, pharmaceuticals, materials science, and advanced research.