Paris-based InSpek secures €6 million to accelerate biomanufacturing with photonics | EU-Startups

InSpek, a startup specialising in photonic sensing solutions, announced a €3.5 million seed funding round co-led by Breega and Wind and followed by historical investor, Quantonation. This funding round is completed by a €2.5 million Accelerator grant from the European Innovation Council. These funds will drive the commercialization of its groundbreaking Raman-onchip spectroscopy sensor which is poised to transform biomanufacturing across industries such as pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and sustainable manufacturing.

Bioprocesses are at the core of industries such as pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and sustainable manufacturing. They rely on living cells, enzymes, or microorganisms to create products that range from life-saving drugs to biodegradable plastics.

InSpek’s vision is that these complex and expensive issues can be solved with real-time insight and control of bioprocesses. By continuously monitoring critical parameters such as cell growth, nutrient levels, and metabolic activity, engineers can gain unprecedented insight and therefore understanding of process dynamics, and make immediate adjustments as needed. 

“This approach not only reduces costly delays and failures but also opens the door to new methods for optimizing production across all scales,” said Jérôme Michon, CEO and co-founder of InSpek. “InSpek’s goal is to deliver the visibility and precision required to make this a reality.”

Current monitoring solutions, such as offline sampling and batch testing, are often too slow and imprecise to meet the demands of modern bioprocessing. These traditional approaches require manual intervention and provide data with significant time delays, meaning that key insights can be missed, leading to suboptimal process control.

At the heart of InSpek’s innovation is its proprietary photonic technology, which uses light (photons) instead of electricity to transmit and process information. This technology is built on novel Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs), which are the optical equivalent of electronic circuits. 

“PICs allow for the miniaturization of complex optical systems onto a single chip, offering numerous unprecedented advantages over traditional sensor technologies,“ explained Ivan-Lazar Bundalo, InSpek’s CTO and co-founder. “PICs achieve such a high degree of miniaturization that they enable the close integration of not just one, but multiple sensors onto a single, miniature chip. This technology is robust and scalable, and it allows for precise, multi-parameter monitoring even in the most space-constrained industrial environments.”

Their exceptional sensitivity and precision allow for detecting critical molecular-level changes in bioprocess conditions. Furthermore, PICs are highly energy-efficient, reducing the operational costs of continuous monitoring. Their ability to operate in harsh environments makes them ideal for biopharmaceuticals, industrial biotech, and food production applications. By leveraging these advantages, InSpek’s photonic sensors provide real-time, non-invasive monitoring that delivers unprecedented control and insight into bioprocesses, ultimately driving higher productivity and reducing waste.

“What excites us the most about InSpek is the transformative impact this technology will have. Their real-time, high-precision monitoring is a true game-changer: allowing engineers to make critical adjustments in the moment, reducing failures, and unlocking new possibilities for scaling bioprocesses,” commented François Paulus, co-founder at Breega. 

Will Zeng, partner at Quantonation, added: “We are thrilled to welcome Breega and Wind as we reinvest to support InSpek as they commercialize. They’ve developed critical technology underlying the future of biomanufacturing.” 

Xavier Gury, Co-Founding Partner at Wind, concluded: “InSpek’s groundbreaking technology will streamline and accelerate processes across a wide array of industries — from biopharma and precision fermentation to fine chemicals and agri-tech. By enabling real-time, non-invasive monitoring, it eliminates the need for traditional testing methods, significantly reducing plastic waste from disposable pipettes. At Wind, we are both proud and excited to support InSpek in reshaping bioprocessing and driving greater sustainability in the industry.”

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