pureLiFi secures £10 million backing from Scottish National Investment Bank

14 Jul 2022

Optical communications firm to target a global roll out of its wi-fi compatible technology.

Jimmy Williamson, of SNI Bank, and Alistair Banham of pureLiFi.

Optical wireless communications company, pureLiFi says it will “target a global roll out of our revolutionary technology” after securing £10.0 million ($11.8 million) backing from the Scottish National Investment Bank.

The Edinburgh-based firm uses light to transmit data rather than conventional radio frequency systems such as WiFi and 5G. By harnessing the light spectrum LiFi is able to provide more reliable wireless communications with unparalleled security, says the firm.

pureLiFi CEO Alistair Banham commented, “The Bank’s investment will help us achieve our vision to connect everyone and everything with LiFi. We introduced our technology to the world from Scotland and it is important for us to grow our company and ecosystem from here.

“Our vision is for Scotland to be a recognised centre of excellence for LiFi. In the future customers from around the world will come to us for our innovative technology and leverage the wider photonics ecosystem that already exists here.”

The investment will enable pureLiFi to further develop new technologies while opening up additional markets in areas such as mobile phones, tablets, wearables and other connected devices.

LiFi is complementary to WiFi technology, offering “transformationally improved performance”, says the company, which added, “when WiFi and LiFi work together the users across both technologies experience greatly improved connectivity, as LiFi also makes WiFi better.”

Enabled devices boom

The number of connected devices in the average home has more than doubled in the past two years, claims the firm. “LiFi solves the biggest challenges faced by current wireless communications technologies by decreasing congestion, improving security and quality of connection,” it states in the funding announcement.

Jimmy Williamson, Executive Director, at the Scottish National Investment Bank, commented, “The Bank’s investment will support pureLiFi as they look to scale up their operation, allowing them to take the innovative technology to the global market.

“By backing them the Bank is also investing in highly skilled research and development jobs in Scotland and endorsing pureLiFi’s vision to create a centre of excellence of LiFi.”