Singular Photonics, an Edinburgh-based fabless semiconductor company developing SPAD (single photon avalanche diode) image sensors with on-chip computation, has closed an oversubscribed €1.85 million ($2.15 million) funding round.
The round was led by ACF Investors, with participation from Wren Capital, Cambridge Angels, Scottish Enterprise, Quantum Exponential and Old College Capital. It also announced that Dipesh Patel, the former CTO of global semiconductor giant Arm, has joined the company’s board of directors.
“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,” said CEO Shahida Imani.
Singular Photonics was founded in February 2024 by CEO Imani, CTO Dr. Aravind Venugopalan, Professor Robert Henderson, and Dr. Neil Finlayson. The company is a spin-out from Professor Henderson’s lab at the University of Edinburgh and emerged from stealth in January 2025.
Singular Photonics is a fabless SPAD image sensor company developing SPAD image sensors with on-chip computation. According to the company, over the decades, image sensors have improved, but they are now approaching the limits of how much information can be captured. The arrival of sensors based on single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) is changing that, the UK startup claims.
The company explains that, unlike conventional image sensors, which measure light intensity, SPAD sensors can precisely detect and time individual photons (the smallest units of light), thereby enabling a new generation of imaging systems capable of capturing information that conventional cameras cannot see.
Singular Photonics also highlighted that it is pioneering the development of SPAD-based image sensors that also integrate advanced on-chip computation. This allows information to be analysed at the point where light is first detected, making the company’s sensors capable of extracting meaningful information in real time.
“As sensors become increasingly capable of understanding the information they capture, they can enable smaller, faster and more efficient systems that meet the growing demands of edge computing and AI-driven applications,” the company mentioned.
Its Andarta and Sirona product families are already commercially available and generating revenue.
The company reported that it has already doubled its full-year 2025 sales in 2026 to date, driven by customer engagements spanning multiple sectors, including a recent collaboration with instrumentation leader Renishaw.
“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,” said Tim Mills, Managing Partner at ACF Investors.
The startup plans to use the investment to scale engineering capacity and accelerate time-to-market for new image sensors that enable new applications in markets ranging from machine vision, industrial automation, and physical AI to scientific discovery and medical imaging.
