SenseAI Vision Ltd, a University of Liverpool spinout developing compressive sensing image processing technologies, has closed a seed investment round led by the Ventures team at Foresight Group, with further participation from the University of Liverpool, Sivananthan Laboratories, Wren Capital, Haatch, LYVA Labs, and the Liverpool City Region Seed Fund, managed by AXM Venture Capital.
Investigating, designing and optimising nano structures are increasingly vital for industries such as semiconductors, life sciences and materials research. Underpinned by world leading research conducted by Professor Nigel Browning, Chief Scientific Officer at SenseAI and head of Electron Microscopy (EM) at the University of Liverpool, SenseAI’s compressive sensing EM software addresses the challenges presented by the current gold standard of Electron Microscopy, which can damage samples due to prolonged exposure to high-energy electron beams, while image acquisition time is slow due to the large data volumes required, often taking hours and even days.
By enabling high-quality images from vastly reduced datasets and enabling up to 100x improvements in acquisition speed and reduction in beam damage, SenseAI’s software is designed to be natively integrated with existing EM hardware. Unlike other methods like those based on deep-learning AI, SenseAI’s software requires no prior training datasets and is not prone to hallucinations.
In addition to founding SenseAI and his University of Liverpool appointment, Professor Browning has served as a fellow at several institutions in the US, including the Pacific Northwest National Lab and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with over 380 publications. He will also be the principal investigator for RUEDI, the £125m STFC-funded, world’s most powerful high energy electron microscope for ultrafast imaging.
Browning is joined by Dan Somers as chief executive officer and co-founder of SenseAI, who is an exited founder with extensive experience in early-stage venture building as partner at Boundary Capital, a pre-seed deep-tech VC fund.
The global EM market is estimated to be $5bn in 2025, and projected to grow to around $9bn by 2031. This growth is primarily driven by the increasing adoption of EM for inspection, metrology, and analysis within high-value sectors, such as to enable the development of cutting-edge process nodes for next-generation semiconductor chips, and the adoption of cryogenic electron microscopy (“Cryo-EM”) for structural biomolecular research within biopharma drug discovery workflows.
SenseAI’s compressive sensing technology represents a step change in imaging speed, quality and versatility for the utilisation of EM. Since spinning out in April 2024, the company has deployed its software across research institutions in semiconductor materials and life sciences. Early adopters such as King’s College London and CNR-IMM have reported clear benefits, including reduced consumables usage, reduced beam damage, and improved experimental outcomes.
The new seed investment will enable SenseAI to further develop its core compressive sensing technology and scale the roll-out of its software product to end-customers together with strategic hardware OEM partners.
SenseAI CEO Somers said: “We’re delighted to partner with all these experienced investors. They have already brought value as well as synergies with many of their portfolio companies which are being exploited already. They are all aligned with our ambition and we believe they will provide us with the best chances to realise our full potential”
Desmond Cheung, investment manager at Foresight Group, added: “We were really impressed by Dan and Nigel’s background in electron microscopy and company building, and the traction achieved to date with world-leading research institutions, such as King’s College London and CNR-IMM, where SenseAI’s software is already making a quantifiable impact in cutting-edge life science and semiconductor research.”
Emma Nolan, head of enterprise, University of Liverpool, said: “SenseAI is a great example of how the University’s world-leading research can be translated into innovation with global impact. The University’s Enterprise Team is proud to have supported the company from the very beginning, and we are delighted by its success in attracting investment from a strong syndicate of investors.”
