Computational optics startup Elio raises $21M

Elio, a Californian startup company working on a new approach to sensor optics, says it has raised $21 million in a series A round of venture funding.

Founded in 2022 by Meta’s former head of sensing Nadav Grossinger, the San Mateo firm is developing an approach to computational optics based on dynamic layers of micromirrors - something said to make the components behave more like a neural network than a lens.

“The optics reconfigure in real time,” states the company’s web site. “Tiny steerable mirrors reshape the light as the sensor runs.”

The result is that AI learns how the optics behave and corrects them live. “What's new isn't that the optics move, it's that they now run neural-network level computation inside of them, learned rather than hand-designed, and [are] reconfigurable on command,” adds Elio.

The company believes that the devices could be used across a number of industrial sectors, including microscopy, semiconductor metrology, robotics, and defense.

Sensors built for AI

Elio contrasts its approach with conventional optical sensors, which typically capture one fixed view of the world, decided in advance and shaped by what the human eye can see - not necessarily what a machine requires.

Instead, says the company, its sensors let AI decide what to capture, in real time, based on what it is trying to figure out - and deliver that information as it is required, instead of producing a fixed image that must be interpreted after it is captured.

Led by Innovation Endeavors and Xora, the funding round also saw participation from Kevin Weil and Scribble VC, alongside support from existing investors UpWest and Resolute Ventures.

UpWest posted on LinkedIn: “Today's sensors capture one fixed view of the world, designed for the human eye. Elio is building sensors for AI instead - letting it decide what to gather in real time.

“From biology and drug discovery to semiconductors, robotics, defense, and other sensing-heavy industries - Elio captures the complexity of the real world so AI can find the patterns that matter, straight from the physical environment.”

For applications in microscopy, Elio says that the approach would allow observation of a living cell or organoid as it responds to a drug over time, without the need for staining or fixing.

“Where today you'd have to kill the sample to capture a single snapshot, we give researchers the rich, early data that decides which compounds move forward, even on the complex models where ordinary microscopes fall short,” explains the startup.

Aside from CEO-founder Grossinger, Elio is led by CTO Nitay Romano - an expert in diffractive optics who spent several years in senior technical roles at VR headset pioneer Oculus.