Plenty of ‘Foresight’ as Illumion raises £2.1m

Illumion is commercialising a revolutionary microscope technology known as Charge Photometry. This visualises in real time what is happening to battery material during charging and discharging.

Founded in 2022 by CEO Dr. Christoph Schnedermann together with Lead Scientist Dr. Alice Merryweather at the University of Cambridge, Illumion builds on research undertaken by co-founders Professor Dame Clare Grey, at the Yusuf Hamied Department and Professor Akshay Rao at the Cavendish Laboratory.

Battery material development methods have not fundamentally changed in 50 years and the process of developing a new battery material, into a commercial product, may take a decade.

Illumion has pioneered an optical imaging technique named Charge Photometry. This offers accessible and fast insights into how battery materials behave during the charge and discharge cycle and avoids destructive testing.

With energy storage becoming a vital tool to facilitate the transition to electrification and enabling the use of more energy from renewable sources, it is anticipated there will be an increased demand for more diversified battery chemistries. Illumion’s technology could be a key enabler for the battery industry.

The investment will enable Illumion to expand its team, develop advanced analytical software, and pursue new market opportunities. As part of its investment, Andy Bloxam, Managing Director for Foresight’s Ventures team, will join the Board as a non-executive Director.

Foresight's Ventures team makes equity investments into fast-growing companies that are building some of the most exciting deep tech, hard tech and enterprise software. To date, Foresight’s Ventures strategy has invested £80 million and supported 39 deep tech investments.

Dr Christoph Schnedermann, Founder and CEO, of Illumion, said: “Our team has developed an extremely useful technology with the potential to transform the battery R & D sector.

“Through Charge Photometry, labs and companies will be able to develop better batteries faster. We are tremendously excited to embark on the next phase with the Foresight and Cambridge Enterprise Ventures teams, bringing the power of Charge Photometry to every battery R & D lab in the world.”

Andy Bloxam, Managing Director of Foresight’s Ventures team, commented: “Bringing breakthrough technology like this to market is exactly what the Foresight Technology Funds were set up to do and we are delighted to support Christoph and his exceptional team. We can’t wait to see the advanced insights that Illumion’s Charge Photometry will provide to battery material developers.”

Mills & Reeve provided legal advice to Illumion. Katharine Robinson, Principal Associate in the Venture Capital Investment at Mills & Reeve who led the team, said: “Illumion’s technology has the potential to revolutionise the global energy market as we increasingly move towards greener energy production.

“The team at Illumion is among the best in the world and it’s a pleasure to advise on this seed funding round as they commercialise their pioneering work.”